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10 February 2021: Are Our Workplaces Safe Spaces? A panel on workplace sexual harassment

Just how prevalent is workplace sexual harassment in Singapore?

A new survey by AWARE and market research company Ipsos—the first-ever nationally representative survey on workplace sexual harassment in Singapore—has revealed a shocking statistic: Two in five workers in Singapore (both women and men) have been sexually harassed at the workplace in the past five years.

Interestingly, around half of those who had experienced sexual harassment did not even know it. When respondents were asked “Have you been sexually harassed in the workplace within the last five years?”, only 1 in 5 said yes. It was only when specific harassment situations were described to them—such as sexual/sexist texts, comments about physical appearance, or attempts to start romantic relationships—that the number doubled.

On top of that, of those who did experience sexual harassment, less than a third had actually taken steps to file an official report.

So now that we have a better-than-ever understanding of the extent of sexual harassment at work… how do we make sense of these findings? And what can we do about this distressingly common problem?

Join AWARE and Catalyse on Wednesday, 10 February 2021, for a panel discussion on workplace sexual harassment in Singapore. Moderated by The Asia Foundation’s Jane Sloane, we’ll approach this issue from a variety of perspectives, touching on:

  • The reasons why majority of workplace sexual harassment victims choose not to make reports
  • The legal options currently available to victims of workplace sexual harassment
  • The government’s perspective on the situation
  • The policies and procedures that companies and employers should put in place to adequately address harassment
  • What individuals can do if their colleagues have been sexually harassed

Whether you have experienced or witnessed sexual harassment in your own office, or want to improve your workplace’s culture and systems to limit future harassment, you can and should play a part in the solution to this problem. Register now to secure your place in the conversation.

Date: Wednesday, 10 February 2021

Time: 8:00pm – 9:30pm

Attendance fee: This event is pay-what-you-can. Suggested donation of $5 per head.

Register here.

Attendance instructions:

1. There is a double registration process for this panel. After registering here, you will receive an email from AWARE/Eventbrite with instructions on how to register on Zoom (scroll to the bottom of the email for this!). Do check your email (including spam) to ensure that you have received this link. We will be sending reminders before the start time as well.

2. Once you register, you will be emailed a Zoom link to join the meeting. Click this link to enter the panel on the day.

About the speakers:

Jane Sloane (moderator)

Jane Sloane is Senior Director, Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality with The Asia Foundation, based in San Francisco. She provides intellectual and programmatic leadership for The Asia Foundation’s programmes to empower women and advance gender equality in Asia and the Pacific, working with a team in San Francisco and Washington and with the foundation’s 19 country offices in the Indo-Pacific. Jane’s previous roles include Vice President of Programs, Global Fund for Women (San Francisco), Vice President of Development, Women’s World Banking (New York) and Executive Director, International Women’s Development Agency (Australia). Jane holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Sydney and a BA (Hons) from the University of Adelaide. She’s a Senior Atlantic Fellow with the Atlantic Institute in Oxford UK, an advisory board member with the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at London School of Economics and a patron of Marie Stopes International. Jane blogs at janeintheworld.com.

K Thanaletchimi, NTUC

A veteran unionist, Ms K Thanaletchimi was a Nominated Member of Parliament from 2016 to 2018, during which she leveraged her extensive union work experience to address the issues and challenges faced by workers in Singapore, with an emphasis on women, family and healthcare issues. In recognition of her contribution and service to advance the interests and welfare of workers, she received the National Day Award (Public Service Medal) in 2019. Aligned with NTUC efforts, Ms K Thanaletchimi continues to champion workers and play an integral part in supporting working women in Singapore.

Amarjit Kaur, Withers KhattarWong

Amarjit Kaur is a Partner at Withers KhattarWong Singapore and an advocate for gender equality. She is consistently recognised as a leading lawyer in the area of labour and employment across global legal directories, including Doyle’s Guide and Legal 500. She is also regularly quoted by The Business Times, Channel NewsAsia and the BBC as a Singapore employment law expert. Amarjit is a frontrunner in training and performing cultural assessments on the #MeToo movement, and tackling workplace sexual harassment in her professional capacity and beyond. As the global head of the Diversity and Inclusion Branch at Withers, Amarjit leads a working group within the firm that is represented from its global offices to proactively plan for diversity and inclusion initiatives and activities.

Corinna Lim

Corinna is the Executive Director of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), Singapore’s largest gender equality group. A respected leader in Singapore’s non-profit world, Corinna led the transformation of AWARE from a volunteer-led organisation to a professionally staffed organisation that substantially increased in size and impact. For over three decades, Corinna’s commitment to issues such as gender-equal workplaces, tackling workplace harassment and tackling domestic violence has been unwavering. Corinna draws from her entrepreneurial, management and leadership experience, and her expertise in law, gender equality and diversity/inclusion, to provide training and consultancy in workplace harassment, developing high-performing teams and more.

Chen Xuan

Xuan is a survivor of various forms of workplace harassment, including sexual harassment, over her career. She has worked as a management consultant and organisational developer at multinational corporations, located both in Singapore and around the world.

Do more to help migrant spouses in divorce cases

This letter was published in The Straits Times on 28 Jan 2021.

During the circuit breaker period, the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) saw an unprecedented spike in the number of calls to the Women’s Helpline.

Like the many cases handled by family lawyers last year, a large number of calls related to experiences of family violence and divorce (Lawyers see rise in 2020 family law cases due to Covid-19, Jan 25).

Among the women who called the helpline were migrant women married to Singaporean men. These women face unique challenges in navigating the local divorce system.

First, they need to find a way to stay in Singapore while their divorces are ongoing in order to contest divorce claims. Their husbands could stop renewing their long-term visit passes before or during divorce, leaving migrant spouses with a limited time to remain in the country. This hampers their ability to negotiate a favourable divorce outcome. (Those who cannot retain legal counsel in Singapore to represent them in the proceedings may secure an extension of their short-term visit pass to do so, but they cannot work while on such a pass.)

Second, securing custody of their Singaporean children is challenging for migrant mothers if they cannot secure long-term residency.

Courts usually rule it to be in the best interest of children to stay in Singapore so they can derive the benefits of their citizenship.

According to a study on transnational divorces filed in the Singapore Family Courts between 2011 and 2015, joint custody was not the norm in divorce cases between Singaporeans and non-residents – unlike in cases between Singaporeans, where joint custody was made in 76 per cent of cases.

In fact, as many as 49 per cent of the divorce cases between citizens and non-residents resulted in sole custody orders, with almost half awarded to Singaporean fathers.

To protect migrant spouses during divorce, there could be a policy guaranteeing their right to remain in the country once proceedings begin, until at least the issuance of the Final Judgment of divorce.

Divorce processes can take months, even years, to resolve, so doing this would ensure that the migrant spouse has a fairer chance at contesting the divorce terms (if necessary), that is, by being physically present.

Migrant spouses should also be guaranteed of their right to work in the meantime, so they can support themselves.

Chong Ning Qian, Senior Executive Research, AWARE

Why most victims of sexual assault do not report their abuse

This letter was originally published in TODAY on 15 January 2021. 

Last week, Law Minister K Shanmugam released important data pertaining to sexual assault in Singapore.

From 2017 to 2019, there were 6,988 reports of sexual assault, including rape, sexual assault by penetration, outrage of modesty, and sexual offences involving children and vulnerable victims. (“Parliament in brief: School sexual misconduct cases on the rise? More complaints about noisy HDB neighbours? Ministers answer”; Jan 5)

In making sense of this data, it is important to keep in mind that most sexual violence survivors do not report their abuse to the authorities.

This observation is borne out by international research and, in Singapore’s context, the experience of the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) at our Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC), where seven out of 10 clients do not end up making a formal report.

Thus, the government data is just the tip of the iceberg.Sexual assault is likely much more prevalent than the reported numbers suggest.

Survivors do not speak up about sexual harassment (even to friends and family) for various reasons, let alone report it to the authorities.

SACC’s data shows that many survivors are afraid they won’t be believed or that they do not have enough hard evidence for a report.

Unhelpful societal attitudes that “blame the victim” cause survivors to feel guilty and blame themselves for their own victimisation, for example, “I won’t report because it’s my fault for being drunk”.

Well-intentioned friends and family may trigger these thoughts by asking seemingly innocent questions such as “What were you wearing?” or “Why did you go out so late?”

In a society where many forms of violence are normalised, some survivors do not recognise that they have been abused in the first place.

In cases where the perpetrator is a family member or a close friend, for instance, the victims may be discouraged from reporting because they do not wish to see the perpetrator punished or their family unit broken.

Other survivors may dread being traumatised again when dealing with a police officer or a judge who is not sensitive.

These barriers are all very real and difficult to overcome.

Ultimately, individuals may decide that reporting the abuse is not the right decision for them.

Of course, not everyone who does so has a negative experience. Those who report may find catharsis and healing, or get access to support and therapeutic resources previously unknown or unavailable to them.

Over the past few years, the Ministry of Home Affairs has announced a series of initiatives to make the process of reporting sex crimes, as well as court procedures, less intimidating.

The Government’s review of issues affecting women that was announced last year, called “Conversations on Women Development”, will deepen public conversations on sexual violence and reporting of such cases.

Even then, there is much more work to be done to make reporting sexual violence easier and preventing sexual violence from taking place.

We still need to mainstream age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education, teach more people how to sensitively respond to disclosures of sexual assault, and go further to ensure that all parts of our criminal justice system are gender-sensitive and trauma-informed.

Shailey Hingorani, Head of Research and Advocacy, AWARE

 

Position Filled: Catalyse Trainer/Facilitator

We are no longer accepting applicants for this role.

Catalyse is the corporate advisory, consulting and training arm of AWARE, Singapore’s leading gender-equality advocacy group. We partner with organisations to build Respectful, Inclusive, Safe and Empathic (RISE) cultures where people can truly maximise their potential.

Our expertise is focused on workplace harassment and bullying, diversity and inclusion, unconscious bias, inclusive leadership and empathetic communication in an Asian context.

We are seeking a values-aligned trainer with demonstrable instructional design and facilitation experience to join us in advancing our mission of building RISE cultures. Our clients include large multinationals with a strong Asia-Pacific footprint, Institutes of Higher Learning and government-linked companies.

Position: Trainer/Facilitator
Commitment: Part-time OR full-time contract
Salary range: SGD$4,800 – 5,800
Starting date: Immediate

Job Description

Your responsibilities will mainly be those outlined below, and over the course of your time with Catalyse, your role may evolve to ensure that your strengths, interests and challenges are appropriately attended to.

Instructional design

  • Work closely with subject matter experts on content and instructional design
  • Design or oversee the production of instructional materials, aids and manuals
  • Ensure clients’ requests and feedback are incorporated as per internal documentation and/or in-person meetings with client

During training

  • Model safe and respectful behaviour
  • Create an inclusive learning environment
  • Facilitate learning through a variety of delivery methods
  • Ensure feedback forms are completed and collected

Post-training

  • Debrief with sales and/or client-management team
  • Track and record training outcomes
  • Ensure key learnings are shared with the team during weekly team meetings

General

  • Periodically evaluate programs to ensure that they reflect relevant changes on content and delivery methodology
  • Stay abreast of the latest development in Asia on topics Catalyse trains on
  • Keep current on training design and methodology

Requirements

Professional Experience

  1. Demonstrable corporate training/facilitator experience, preferably in an Asian context
  2. At least 3-5 years experience in creating corporate training content
  3. Understand management and leadership climate and nuances in Asia
  4. Comfortable working in a multicultural and diverse team
  5. Proven functional experience in consulting, business development and/or marketing

Skills

  1. Excellent English, verbal and written, and communication skills
  2. Strong presentation and facilitation skills
  3. Adept at respectfully communicating professional boundaries
  4. High level of client and stakeholder management skills
  5. Professional fluency in one other Asiatic language (desirable)

Attitude

  1. Dependable and accountable team player
  2. Ability to thrive in a fast-moving environment
  3. Regards challenges as opportunities to explore alternatives
  4. Demonstrable ability to reconcile client expectations with Catalyse’s fundamental values of inclusion
  5. Proven track record of effectively navigating conflict

As you will be joining a small team of high-performers, with freedom to work from any physical location, it is critical that extra effort is made to:

  1. Work closely with colleagues from functions such as sales and client management, in order to stay on top of what is happening at all times
  2. Be consistently disciplined in the usage of shared online organisational and communication tools
  3. Attend, and come prepared, for the weekly update meeting

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.

23 February, 2 March and 9 March 2021: Birds & Bees, A Workshop for Parents About Sex Education

“What should I do if I catch my child watching porn?”

“How do I start talking to my child about romantic relationships?”

“How can I talk to my child about sex without making it sound like a lecture?

“How can I let my child know that I’m on his/her side and care about what he/she feels?

Most parents believe that it is important to talk to their children about sex, but many are uncertain how to do it. But what happens when you keep putting it off until the children are “older”? Where do your children get answers to questions they can’t ask you? (The internet is one such place, and young people say they are most likely to ask peers and romantic partners.)

Birds & Bees is an experiential workshop for parents, developed by parents, to explore what works for you when talking to your child about romantic relationships and sex. A variety of formats will be used, including opportunities for dialogue, discussion and reflection

Most parents want to be an “ask-able” parent: to be the approachable adult who is open to questions and who their child turns to for answers. Attend this workshop to explore how you can work on developing your own strategies to enhance the trust and bond with your child!

All parents would find the content useful and applicable. For this online workshop, we are giving priority to parents of children aged 10-15 so that the discussions can be more age-targeted.

Places are limited so do sign up quickly!

Date: 23 February, 2 March and 9 March (Tuesdays—participants are expected to attend all three sessions and must attend the first session)

Time: 8:00-9.30pm (1.5 hours)

Workshop Fee: $15 (in total, covering all three sessions)

Survey: After you sign up, you will be asked to complete a short pre-workshop survey about the age(s) and number of your children. This is very important so that parents with children of similar ages can be grouped together to that you will get the most out of the workshop.

Special instructions for online workshop: As small-group discussions are a big part of the workshop, participants are expected to switch on their video as well as audio whenever possible, and to join in the discussions for maximum benefit.

Refunds and cancellations: Unfortunately we will not be offering refunds. In exceptional circumstances, if you are unable to attend the subsequent sessions, you will be able to join the next set of workshops if you write in to publiceducation@aware.org.sg in advance giving your reasons.

**If you would like to join the workshop but cannot make it at this time, please fill in the indication of interest form.

Register here.

 

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.

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)

Respondents needed for study on image-based sexual abuse in Singapore

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is the non-consensual production and/or distribution of intimate photographs and videos, or the sexualised digital alteration of photographs or videos of the victim. It also includes threats to non-consensually produce, distribute or alter photographs or videos.*

This study seeks to explore the recourse available to survivors of IBSA in Singapore. It centres the experiences of survivors who have taken action to (i) hold perpetrators accountable, (ii) have their images removed from platforms, (iii) seek other remedies.

For example, you may have called on your school or workplace to take action against perpetrators; made police reports; applied for Personal Protection Orders; contacted social media platforms or moderators of groups on platforms; and so on. If you are a survivor of IBSA who has taken any of those types of actions, we would love to speak with you.

Participant criteria

  • You are aged 18 – 65 years,
  • You have experienced a form of IBSA,
  • You sought recourse for the IBSA that happened, and
  • The IBSA happened in Singapore within the last 5 years.

OR

  • You have not experienced IBSA but helped a victim-survivor (meeting the criteria above) with seeking recourse, and
  • The victim-survivor has not been interviewed for this study.

Interview details

  • Each interview will be approximately 1 to 1.5 hours long.
  • Interviews will be conducted online over a secure video conferencing platform, at a date and time of your convenience. Alternatively, should you be more comfortable with having the interview in person, arrangements can be made for that.
  • You will receive a token of appreciation of $30 upon the conclusion of the interview.
  • All interview findings will be anonymised, and your personal details kept confidential.

Please email Yi Ting at lyt.leeyiting@gmail.com, to indicate your interest in participating. Indicate “IBSA Research” in the subject title. You will receive a response within three working days.

*As IBSA falls under a broad umbrella of technology-facilitated sexual violence, and is not always sharply delineated, please feel free to email lyt.leeyiting@gmail.com if you are unsure if you have experienced IBSA.

Sexual offences: Review mandatory reporting law

This letter was originally published in The Straits Times on 7 November 2020. 

The National University of Singapore (NUS) found itself in a conundrum in the recent case concerning former Tembusu College don Jeremy Fernando (Police report made without our consent, say victims, Nov 1).

NUS made a police report about Dr Fernando’s actions, despite both victims having declined to file their own reports. NUS has since explained that it was legally obligated to do so under Section 424 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Recognising that this may discourage future victims from speaking up, NUS dean of students Leong Ching stated that the decision was “one of the most difficult dilemmas” the university faced.

NUS is not alone in facing such a tricky situation. Other institutes of higher learning, schools, pastoral care services, support service organisations and companies have been in a similar situation – deciding whether to report when the victim does not want to.

Reporting is mandated “in the absence of reasonable excuse” and it is unclear if victims not wanting the organisation to report constitutes “reasonable excuse”.

Mandatory reporting can compound the feelings of helplessness that often afflict sexual assault survivors.

It can also have the unintended effect of deterring such victims from seeking help in the first place, for fear that they may be drawn into a police investigation against their wishes.

We wholeheartedly agree with Professor Chan Wing Cheong that Section 424 should be reviewed (Clarity needed in legal duty to report crimes, Oct 28).

Mandatory reporting laws facilitate law enforcement as they deter the concealment of knowledge relating to offences. So these laws can be helpful.

One way forward is the approach taken by New South Wales where the law limits the mandatory reporting obligation to situations where a party knows that they have information that might be of material assistance in securing the conviction of the offender.

It also helpfully elaborates that “reasonable excuse” includes situations where adult victims do not want a police report to be made.

Further, special permission must be obtained to prosecute the following professionals for not reporting: legal and medical practitioners, social workers and clergy.

The Association of Women for Action and Research once again asks that the state review Section 424 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and hopes the Government will do this soon.

Corinna Lim, Executive Director, AWARE