Southeast Asian tech is no stranger to sexual harassment, but speaking up is still taboo

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Cherilyn Tan’s experience with sexism in the workplace began after graduation, when she started her own design thinking firm. “I had male clients who refused to pay unless I went out for drinks with them,” she says.

Today, Tan is the founder and CEO of Asia Law Network, an online database that connects legal professionals to clients.

She recalls an incident where, after closing a business deal where she invested a handsome sum of her money, her new business partner suddenly kissed her out of the blue. “I had the biggest shock of my life,” she says. “I realized it was the worst investment I had made – I knew I was stuck.”

Entrepreneur Joelle Pang has seen quite a few cases of discrimination and harassment in her time. As someone who helps launch startups in new markets, she spends a lot of her time traveling and meeting business contacts in different cities and countries. “The most common experiences are those where clients and partners have gone on to text and call me beyond what is appropriate – content- or volume- wise,” she says.

She describes instances when VCs have unexpectedly kissed her on the cheek after she pitched her startup at a networking event. She also tells of a VC who grabbed her as she was leaving and tried to kiss her on the lips, and of an uncomfortable taxi ride where an angel investor was getting intimate in the back seat.

The recent sexual harassment scandals out of the US startup scene rekindled the debate about sexism in the industry. From Asia, these events might feel distant and removed, like this kind of thing only happens somewhere far away. Until a blog post by former MaGIC CEO Cheryl Yeoh detailing her assault by former 500 Startups co-founder Dave McClure shattered that picture.

For this story, we spoke to several women founders, entrepreneurs, and employees in Singapore’s tech startup ecosystem, as well as eight VCs who are active in the region.

Some of the women agreed to speak publicly about their experiences. Some of them wished to share their stories under the condition of anonymity. And some did not want them to be published at all.

Out of the six VCs who got back to us, all except one claimed they had not heard of incidents of harassment in the community. In fact, some expressed shock when hearing how many women have stories to tell.

It speaks volumes about the ever-present fear of retaliation against those who speak out, even in the wake of recent events. But what they all highlight is that Yeoh’s ordeal is far from isolated. What’s different here is that people still find it hard to talk about this openly.

Women speaking out

Tan published an account of another sexist incident she experienced, emphasizing the difficulty of talking about such experiences. “Sharing takes a lot of courage and we should allow for that to happen so perpetrators are identified for what they did and the rest of the women can be aware,” she tells Tech in Asia.

Rose* has worked in startups and venture capital firms in Singapore. She says it was during a stint at one of the investment firms when her boss bragged to her about his genitals on multiple occasions when they were alone. After the initial shock, she attempted to report the incident to the company. She says nothing was done, as it was her word against his.

From her perspective, she had no way of taking action – even lawyer friends told her there was not much she could do about it. Not wanting to leave the job, she instead resigned herself to enduring a situation she found deeply uncomfortable.

Somewhere to turn

Startup living

A house in order

Bad for business