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Year: 2020

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Focus on alternative long-term care options for ageing population rather than rely on maids

This letter was originally published in The Straits Times on 29 December 2020. 

Singaporean employers hiring Indonesian migrant domestic workers (MDWs) will soon take on the $3,000 placement fee previously borne by MDWs themselves (Employers to pay up to $3k more for new maids from Indonesia, Dec 18; and Indonesia’s ‘no-fee’ plan aims to protect its workers overseas, Dec 27).

This commendable move by the Indonesian authorities alleviates the burden of debt for their new MDWs, who typically earn low starting salaries.

However, the increased cost of hiring Indonesian MDWs will at the same time limit the long-term care options available to Singaporeans.

All this signals a need to rethink our reliance on MDWs in caring for our ageing population.

MDWs are an attractive option for long-term, home-based care due to three factors, according to a 2019 study by the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) that examined the impact of eldercare on the retirement adequacy of female caregivers.

First, hiring an MDW is cheaper than engaging formal caregiving services.

Second, it is the preferred option for the elderly who wish to age at home rather than attend services at a centre.

Third, it allows many family caregivers to avoid having to navigate the complicated care services landscape.

However, Aware’s latest study on the caregiver burden of MDWs, done in collaboration with the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home), found that when the bulk of eldercare responsibilities are transferred to MDWs, they are often left overworked and given inadequate support in carrying out their caregiving duties.

This limits their ability to provide high-quality eldercare.

An unequal redistribution of caregiving responsibilities from family caregivers to MDWs also takes a mental and physical toll on them that the removal of placement fees alone will not solve.

This move by Indonesia should be looked upon as a chance for us to strengthen our legislative protection of MDWs.

While long-term care is a basic need that should be affordable for all, it should not come at the expense of the migrant women upon whom we rely disproportionately. Instead, Singapore should focus efforts on providing alternative long-term care options to lower- and middle-income family caregivers who are most likely to bear the brunt of the increased costs associated with MDWs.

This includes providing affordable respite care services and building a sustainable core of local professional caregivers.

Camillia Deborah Dass, Communications Executive, Aware

The 2020 Alamak! Awards, featuring Chestnuts

AWARE’s Alamak! Awards are given out to the most jaw-dropping instances of sexism and misogyny seen in Singapore. They are AWARE’s tongue-in-cheek way of raising awareness about, and condemning, these behaviours. The nomination process takes into account public feedback.

As per tradition, musical satire group Chestnuts presents each of the four nominees in the form of hilarious song parodies. Songs we know and love receive twisted new lyrics from comic genius Jonathan Lim, while local musical theatre icon Elaine Chan and video designer Genevieve Peck weave them into a musical mash-up to remember, together with Timothy Wan, Natalie Yeap and Candice de Rozario. These videos were first played at the AWAREHouse Party on 28 November 2020. 

1. The Potential

Over the past year, we’ve seen male perpetrators of violence receive what many perceive to be unreasonably light sentences, because of the men’s “potential”. In these cases, a doctor and two university students had their “potential to contribute to society” remarked upon by tribunals and judges even as they were penalised for their offences. Whatever the outcomes, we’re puzzled by society’s tendency to imagine shiny new futures for these men, despite their actual pasts. Why assume they have the ability to do good, when so far what they’ve demonstrated is the ability to do wrong?

(Latest update: Following the strong public response to these cases, the Government has announced that it will review the penalty framework, including the extent to which an offender’s background and educational status should be a relevant factor.)

 

2. OKLetsGo

OKLetsGo, a podcast that regularly tops local charts, came under heavy public fire in 2020 for how the hosts objectified women. Instead of apologising or addressing the feedback in good faith, the three hosts doubled down, complaining that this was a coordinated attack against them. They finally apologised when President Halimah expressed her disapproval of the podcast.

 

3. Gender Pay Gap

In January 2020, the Ministry of Manpower released a new report showing that the unadjusted median pay gap between men and women in Singapore is 16%. This figure of 16% has stayed constant since 2002. After adjusting for factors such as the worker’s industry, occupation, age and education, the gender pay gap is 6%. This means that even among individuals doing the same job, women typically earn 6% less than men.

MOM blamed, in part, “women’s propensity to play the primary role in caregiving and take time off work for parenting”, and said that occupational segregation is “due to inherent gender differences”: “differing personality traits and skills, psychological attributes, and choices of field of study”. Sigh—it’s too bad performing unpaid comes so naturally to us women.

 

4. SG Nasi Lemak

SG Nasi Lemak was a Telegram group where members shared explicit and non-consensual sexual images of women and girls.The group had around 44,000 members at its peak. The material they shared ranged from so-called “revenge porn” to actual child pornography to random photos of teenage girls, captured without permission. They also used multi-level marketing techniques to induce members to keep “contributing content”. Despite a handful of arrests and the closure of SG Nasi Lemak, it seems that participants just set up new Telegram groups and carried on.

 

Big thanks to Chestnuts for another entertaining year of Alamak! Awards! For more information about the Alamak! Awards, click here.

Happy 35th AWARE: Birthday wishes from our friends and supporters

AWARE turned 35 in November 2020! We commemorated the anniversary with a big virtual celebration, the AWAREHouse Party. And while we couldn’t be together in person, we’re grateful to the friends and supporters who sent in these wonderful birthday wishes.

In this video: Noeleen Heyzer (social scientist and former United Nations Under-Secretary-General); Chan Heng Chee (Ambassador-at-Large, MFA, and Chair, LKY Centre for Innovative Cities); Teo You Yenn (sociologist and author); Preetipls (comedian and influencer); Claire Chiang and Ho Kwon Ping (co-founders, Banyan Tree hospitality group).

In this video: Rahayu Mohamad (President, Singapore Muslim Women’s Association, PPIS); Junie Foo (President, Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations; SCWO); Mary Ann Tsao (Chair, Tsao Foundation).

In this video: Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong

In this video: Minister for Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam 

In this video: Tommy Koh (Ambassador-at-Large, MFA, and Rector, Tembusu College, NUS)

In this video: Member of Parliament Sylvia Lim

In this video: Member of Parliament Louis Ng

In this video: Advertising executive and sexual assault survivor Monica Baey

Thank you for the well-wishes, and for everything you’ve done for AWARE over the years!

Minor Inconveniences: Transnational Families Comics by jhawnette

Singapore is home to more than two million migrants, including those who have married Singaporean citizens and who are parents to Singaporean children. In the last few years, around one in four of all citizen marriages has been between a migrant (excluding Permanent Residents) and a Singaporean citizen. Women make up more than 70% of these migrant spouses. 

Without Permanent Residence or citizenship, migrant spouses have limited rights and access to social benefits. 

For International Migrants Day this year, we collaborated with artist jhawnette to create “Minor Inconveniences”, a series of three comics that depict the everyday dilemmas, anxieties and inconveniences that transnational families navigate. These stories are amalgamated from interviews AWARE conducted with close to 40 members of transnational families, including those with female migrant spouses, male migrant spouses and teenage children of migrant spouses. 

Through these comics, we shed light on the unique challenges that these migrant spouses and their families face in building their family lives in Singapore, with the hope of creating more understanding and empathy towards their situations. We also present policy recommendations to support the rights of migrant spouses. 

COMIC 1: Day trip to JB

Uncertainty is a constant for many transnational families. Parents and children live in fear of separation, as the migrant family member has no guarantee of their right to reside in Singapore. 

Migrant spouses can apply for a Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP), valid for 1-3 years, after they are married to a Singaporean citizen. However, the eligibility criteria is opaque and the successful renewal of the pass is not guaranteed. Reasons for failed applications are not usually made known to the applicant. Unless they qualify for an employment-based pass, the failure to secure an LTVP results in the migrant spouse having to be on a short-term visit pass (SVP). These are valid for 30 days (up to 89 days upon renewal). 

Uncertainty over immigration status causes a great deal of stress for migrant spouses, many of whom report feeling anxious, worried and frustrated when they run into trouble renewing their pass and dealing with ICA. The opacity of the eligibility criteria also leaves some feeling resentful and bitter towards the system – perceived to be arbitrarily rewarding some families over others. 

We recommend that:

  • Eligibility criteria for LTVP/+ and PR be made clear and transparent; OR
  • LTVP+ is granted to all migrant spouses of citizens; AND
  • PR status is granted to all migrant spouses upon the birth of their citizen child or the death of their citizen spouse, or (at latest) after three years on the LTVP+. Make citizenship available to all such PRs after a clearly defined and transparently published period.

COMIC 2: Clara’s baby

Housing is a fundamental right. Yet transnational families have limited options as they are barred from applying under most public housing schemes. Citizens married to non-PRs can purchase HDB flats, but they are treated as singles for the purposes of housing grants, and migrant spouses cannot be co-owners. This makes the purchase of housing more expensive.  

As shown in the story, HDB only takes the flat owner’s income into consideration when determining its loan quantum. The migrant spouse’s income will not be considered, since they cannot be co-owners. It is thus difficult for couples to purchase a bigger flat as they cannot secure a high enough HDB loan amount to finance it. HDB has said that it exercises flexibility and considers appeals to use the occupier’s income for computation of loan on a case-by-case basis.

Transnational couples also do not generally qualify for public rental housing, since applicants under the Family Scheme must include at least another Singaporean citizen or PR in their “basic family nucleus”.

We recommend that:

  • Housing access be eased, with clear, timed routes to PR.
  • Citizens married to LTVP/+ holders qualify for public rental housing under the Family Scheme. 

COMIC 3: Lunch break

  

Migrant parents want to do the best for their children, but it can be difficult when access to paid work is limited. They have no automatic right to work. Those on LTVP/+ would have to first secure a Letter of Consent (LOC) or Pre-approved Letter of Consent from the Ministry of Manpower before they can start working. Those on short-term visit passes cannot work.

LTVP/+ holders can only have one employer at a time. They cannot, for example, take on two part-time jobs. They are also not allowed to be self-employed. This is especially challenging for mothers, who often need the versatility and flexibility of part-time jobs or self-employed work so they can juggle caregiving. The income from one part-time job may not be sufficient to support their families. 

The story here also alludes to the difficulties that migrant spouses face with divorce and securing care and control of their Singaporean children. To begin with, they may not even be in the country to contest divorce claims, if their divorcing husbands stopped renewing their LTVP/+ and they are forced to leave Singapore. Migrant spouses also have limited access to legal aid, since most schemes are limited to Singaporeans. 

Compared to Singaporean mothers, migrant mothers are less likely to obtain (1) joint custody or sole custody and (2) care and control of their Singaporean children. Nationality is one of the factors that the Court will consider in awarding care and control. It is usually awarded to Singaporean fathers if the migrant mothers are unable to retain residency in Singapore on their own merit (for example, through an employment-based pass) post-divorce. Many migrant mothers are aware of the risk of being separated from their children if they are divorced; some feel compelled to stay in abusive marriages as a result. 

We recommend that:

  • The right to work is granted automatically for all migrant spouses.
  • LTVP/+ holders are allowed to be self-employed, and to have more than one employer at a time.
  • Migrant spouses undergoing divorce proceedings are guaranteed of their LTVP+. Citizen sponsors should be prohibited from cancelling or not renewing their migrant spouse’s LTVP+ (without consent from the pass holder) once divorce proceedings begin, until at least the issuance of the Final Judgment of Divorce.
  • Migrant spouses are allowed to access existing pro bono or low-bono legal services available to citizens. Set up free helplines to specifically support preliminary and basic procedural issues surrounding family law.

Position Filled: Head of CARE Department (maternity cover)

We are no longer accepting applicants for this role.

AWARE’s CARE department is looking for an interim Head of Department (maternity cover). This HOD will lead and manage (from March to August 2021) AWARE’s CARE Services, i.e. Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC) and Women’s Care Centre (WCC), and research, advocacy and community engagement projects that may be carried out in relation to these Services, as agreed with Executive Director.

Position: Head, CARE
Department: CARE
Salary range: SGD$6,000 – $7,000
Term: Short-term contract: January – September 2021 (including orientation, shadowing period and transition period)
Citizenship: Singapore citizen/PR, or non-Singaporean holding a Dependent’s Pass

Job Description

You will report directly to AWARE’s Executive Director.

There will be a job orientation and shadowing period of 1 – 1.5 months before March 2021, and a one-month transition period in August 2021.

I. CARE Operations Management 

  • Lead and manage the CARE Team to deliver AWARE’s CARE strategy within budget
  • Oversee the daily operations of AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre and the Women’s Care Centre to ensure that CARE services are consistently of a high quality, effective, efficient, timely and meeting our clients’ needs.
  • Oversee knowledge-development and data-management for key programme areas

II. CARE Team Management

  • Provide direction, coaching, appraisal and technical guidance to CARE team members, and support their professional and technical development.
  • Perform other management and administrative tasks as required of Heads of Department, including hiring, performance management, budgeting and resource planning.

III. Community Engagement and Advocacy

  • Support in building (where applicable) partnerships and positive relationships with governmental and other non-governmental organisations to achieve mutual goals.
  • Assist the ED to identify potential funding partners and help present high-quality proposals to potential sponsors for CARE programmes and projects.

IV. Participation in Senior Management

  • Represent the interests of CARE as a whole to the Senior Management Team and participate in the development and implementation of organisational policies, practices and procedures for AWARE.

The Head of CARE, together with the HODs of other departments and the Executive Director, forms the Senior Management Team of AWARE. The Senior Management, led by the Executive Director, shall:

  • Ensure a supportive and collaborative work environment within AWARE to meet AWARE’s goals
  • Build a cohesive staff team united around achieving AWARE’s strategic goals
  • Ensure interdepartmental cooperation to streamline workflow.

Read our privacy policy here.

Please note that due to the large number of applications, only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for an interview. If you have any questions about this position, please email careers@aware.org.sg.

AWARE launches Saga, a 12-episode podcast about the 2009 AWARE Saga

This post was originally published as a press release on 9 December 2020.

At 7pm this evening, gender-equality group AWARE launches Saga, a 12-episode podcast about the 2009 AWARE Saga. 

Saga is the first podcast produced by the association. It is also the first-ever long-form narrative podcast produced in Singapore. Saga is hosted by veteran journalist Bharati Jagdish and written and produced by Jasmine Ng and Kelly Leow, with an original score by Singapore band .gif. While the first two episodes of the podcast are available today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts, the next 10 episodes will be released over the following weeks in December 2020 and January 2021. 

The “AWARE Saga” was the name colloquially given to the events of March, April and May 2009, which were widely covered in local media and remain a major landmark in Singapore civil society history. At an Annual General Meeting on 28 March 2009, a group of new members were elected onto the executive committee of AWARE, effectively taking control of the then 24-year-old organisation. It was subsequently revealed that many of the new executive committee were members of the same church, and that they had taken over AWARE largely due to their objections to the organisation’s sexuality education programme. On 2 May 2009, around 3,000 women and men attended an Extraordinary General Meeting, during which a vote of no confidence was held. The new executive committee lost the vote and stepped down, returning AWARE to the leadership of long-time members. 

“As someone who was directly involved in the effort to requisition AWARE back in 2009, I was glad to be a part of this important project,” said Ms Margaret Thomas, AWARE founding member and current president. “We seldom put in the effort to document and reflect upon our local histories; this is especially true for the histories of women and other marginalised communities. If we do not record our history, we won’t be able to examine and discuss the lessons of the past, and this can hinder our progress as a culture. 

“With this podcast, the producers have found a way to capture a valuable oral history in intimate detail and texture, and present it accessibly to the public. I’m pleased that this incident—which was, for many of us, life-changing—has been explored in detail and with care and consideration for the various perspectives involved.” 

Saga was produced over the course of two years. Around 50 individuals were interviewed for the podcast. Notable voices include former AWARE presidents Constance Singam, Kanwaljit Soin and Dana Lam, celebrities Pam Oei and Irene Ang, and thought-leaders such as Tommy Koh, Teo You Yenn, Gillian Koh, Imran Taib, Siew Kum Hong and Tong Yee. 

The podcast’s creators said that their aims were to examine the impacts of the AWARE Saga on Singapore, and spark deep conversations about the issues at hand. They noted that, while the AWARE Saga took place over a decade ago, those issues have only grown in relevance. 

“Saga was an extremely exciting and ambitious project,” said Ms Jasmine Ng, co-producer, “not just because of the relative newness of the podcasting medium in Singapore, but because of the richness of the issues evoked by the AWARE Saga. By exploring themes like feminism, LGBTQ rights, sex education and the role of religion in the public square, Saga covers subject matter that has historically been deemed ‘sensitive’. Yet shying away from those topics just because they are complex will only reinforce existing societal divides. 

“We believe that mature, open dialogue is the best way to bridge those divides and come to a place of mutual understanding. Our hope is that listeners of all stripes use Saga as an occasion to engage each other in meaningful, holistic conversations.” 

 

Series Synopsis: March 2009: When 100 strangers arrive at a run-of-the-mill meeting for Singapore gender-equality group AWARE, long-time members sense that something is wrong. Who are the mysterious women wresting control of this respected volunteer organisation? And what disturbing secret unites them? What happens next becomes the stuff of national legend: starting with an astonishing coup and culminating in an extraordinary declaration of equality and justice. Welcome to the AWARE Saga. aware.org.sg/saga 

AWARE x OPPI Survey: Share your views on women’s rights and gender equality in Singapore

From October 2020 to the middle of next year, the Singapore government is carrying out a comprehensive gender equality review.

What issues do you think should be addressed in this review? Where do you stand on issues like the gender pay gap, NS, and communicating sexual consent? Your responses will help inform AWARE’s focus as we prepare for a series of community conversations on key gender issues.

Participate in this simple three- to five-minute survey! You will be given a series of statements to respond to with “Agree”, “Disagree” or “Undecided”. If the statements do not represent your point of view, feel free to tell us more in “Have more to say!”

This survey is now closed.

Workplace discrimination: Laws needed to hold errant employers to account

 

This letter was originally published in TODAY on 7 December 2020. 

A recent report by the Ministry of Manpower, the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management and the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (Tafep) revealed that 60 per cent more employers were investigated for discriminatory hiring practices in the first half of this year than in the same period last year.

The reported increase is unsurprising. Since the launch of the Association of Women for Action and Research’s (Aware) Workplace Harassment and Discrimination Advisory, 34 per cent (the largest category) of our cases have pertained to discriminatory practices, involving both job applicants and employees.

Discrimination can take many forms, both direct and indirect.

Seventy-one per cent of our discrimination cases came from employees facing pregnancy discrimination. Other common types of discrimination involved race and gender (9.6 per cent), family and caregiving responsibilities (5.5 per cent) as well as disability, age and religion.

Seeing that discrimination can manifest at any stage, from hiring to dismissal, efforts should extend to cases beyond the hiring stage. Yet, while the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices cover what employers should do during performance evaluations and promotions, for instance, our cases show that these principles do not often bear out in those areas.

In the absence of legislation that enforces these principles, we have, time and again, seen employers circumventing these guidelines without any legal accountability.

What’s more, despite the increase in complaints seen by Tafep and Aware’s Workplace Harassment and Discrimination Advisory (in the first half of this year, we saw 81.8 per cent more discrimination-related calls, from employees and applicants, than in the same period last year), we believe discrimination remains under-reported in Singapore.

From our case management sessions, we know that many employees do not file complaints because of a lack of protections under the present non-legislative approach.

They fear Tafep will not keep their complaint confidential and their employers will retaliate when the complaint comes to light.

For example, a pregnant employee contacted us after her supervisor made snide remarks about her pregnancy “being an annual affair” and nitpicked about her work after she announced her pregnancy, despite the consistent quality of her work.

She previously received very positive reviews throughout the years she worked for the company.

Yet she declined to approach Tafep, in part because she feared employer retaliation.

Furthermore, the current penalties (curtailment of work-pass privileges for employers) do not provide a direct or legal remedy for victims of discrimination.

The Government has maintained that introducing anti-discrimination legislation could increase business costs and undermine economic competitiveness. But we observe that countries with anti-discrimination laws, such as the United States, Britain and the Netherlands, remain globally competitive.

With discrimination evidently a growing issue in the Singapore workforce, the present non-legislative approach clearly does not suffice.

We urge the Government to enact a Workplace Equality Act that would deter such cases in the first place. It will also ensure a legal remedy for dismissed workers and current employees, and hold employers legally accountable for their actions.

Mamta Melwani, Senior Executive

AWARE’s Workplace Harassment and Discriminatory Advisory (WHDA)

AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre saw 153 cases of technology-facilitated sexual violence in 2019, the most ever in one year

This post was originally published as a press release on 2 December 2020.

* Correction notice, July 2023: When our analysis was performed, our system did not capture the full range of TFSV cases seen by SACC in 2019. We have since amended this post accordingly. We sincerely apologise for the error.

Gender-equality group AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC) has seen the number of technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) cases triple across four years. In 2019, SACC received 153 TFSV cases, out of a total of 777 cases (20%). In 2016, SACC received 47 TFSV cases (out of 338 total cases); in 2017, 88 (out of 515 total cases); and in 2018, 118 (out of 808 total cases).

AWARE defines technology-facilitated sexual violence as unwanted sexual behaviors carried out via digital technology, such as digital cameras, social media and messaging platforms, and dating and ride-hailing apps. These behaviors range from unwanted and explicit sexual messages and calls, and coercive sex-based communications, to image-based sexual abuse, which is the non-consensual creation, obtainment and/or distribution of sexual images or videos of another person. Image-based sexual abuse includes sexual voyeurism, the non-consensual distribution of sexual images (so-called “revenge porn”) and threats to do the above.

TFSV cases seen by SACC in 2019 included:
71 cases (46% of total) involving image-based sexual abuse
58 cases (38% of total) involving unwanted and explicit sexual messages and calls
18 cases (12% of total) involving multiple forms of abuse.

In most of the TFSV cases (8 in 10), the perpetrator was known to the survivor. Intimate partners (current and former), acquaintances and workplace colleagues formed the highest reported categories of perpetrators.*

While all TFSV cases involve an aspect of technology, the abuse sometimes occurs in offline spaces too, and can take the form of physical or verbal sexual harassment, rape, sexual assault (the three most common types of offline abuse), stalking, public humiliation or intimidation. In some cases, technology plays the role of connecting the perpetrator to the victim, i.e. via dating or ride-hailing apps. “Sextortion” is another emerging category, comprising 12% of cases, whereby the perpetrator obtains images of a victim without the latter’s consent, then blackmails the victim into having sex. The number of TFSV cases involving offline abuse remained high in 2019: Twenty-nine cases (19% of total) involved offline abuse facilitated by technology.

“The terms surrounding technology-facilitated sexual violence—from ‘upskirting’ to ‘SG Nasi Lemak’—have become depressingly common parlance in Singapore of late, given how often such cases are reported in the news,” said AWARE Head of Advocacy and Research Shailey Hingorani. “For many, the incidents no longer shock. When it comes image-based sexual abuse, we even know that men explicitly encourage each other to commit these acts over and over. So it is entirely unsurprising to see our case numbers going up. The trend is likely to continue.”

In SACC’s experience supporting TFSV survivors, staff have observed an emotional, mental and physical toll on clients, linked to their loss of dignity, privacy and sexual autonomy. This is exacerbated by the survivors’ limited ability to contain the spread of images and videos once they are uploaded and shared, and difficulty establishing contact with platforms to facilitate the take-down of these materials. As a result, perpetrators are seldom held accountable.

“For the sake of a perpetrator’s momentary pleasure or spite, a survivor may live with anxiety for the rest of her life, knowing that her images are being disseminated online to countless strangers,” added Ms Hingorani. “We hope that more education is provided to youth in Singapore to cultivate their empathy and respect, and counter the negative influence that they may receive on social media or other parts of the internet.”

AWARE has taken steps to expand its research and advocacy on technology-facilitated sexual violence. Earlier this year, the organisation held a contest to crowdsource initiatives against image-based sexual abuse in Singapore. One winning team is creating a centralised website with practical and up-to-date guidelines for image-based sexual abuse survivors to take action or seek support. The other winner is carrying out research into the various recourse options available to image-based sexual abuse survivors, evaluating their effectiveness, impact and limitations. Through these collaborations, AWARE aims to strengthen its recommendations regarding these types of sexual abuse.

Infographics

          

          

See previous information on TFSV at SACC here.

*This post was updated in 2021 to reflect more consistent categorisation of perpetrator type.

Annex

Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence: Selected SACC Cases from 2019

Case A: The client received harassing and explicit messages and calls from her ex-partner shortly after she ended the relationship. The partner had non-consensually filmed the both of them having sex, as well as the client taking a shower and using the toilet. These videos were circulated online and to her family members. The harassment escalated to stalking and threats after the client blocked her ex-partner on social media. The client felt distressed and unable to focus on her work after the incidents took place.

Case B: The client was sexually harassed by her boss, who sent her lewd messages over WhatsApp, to which she did not respond. On several occasions, the boss made inappropriate comments about the client’s physical appearance. The case involved offline assault as well: On a business trip, the boss kissed the client without her consent. 

Case C: The client was harassed by a ride-hailing driver on her way to work. The driver made explicit remarks, including how he liked to touch girls on the train. He also talked about women’s underwear as well as naked spa sessions. In shock, the client remained quiet throughout the ride and messaged a confidante. Eventually, with the support of her confidante, she reported it to the ride-hailing service company and is awaiting a response.

Case D: Sexual videos of the client were circulated on the internet. She had previously shared these videos with an intimate partner, whom she was no longer seeing. This former partner sent her friends screenshots of the videos with disturbing and explicit captions.

Case E: The client exchanged messages with a man on a dating app and the two decided to meet. Before they met, she communicated her desire not to have sex. The perpetrator agreed, assuring her he too was seeking a serious romantic relationship. However, when they met, he took her to a private space and raped her.