Venxhin Pang

July 3, 2017

With the revelations that have come to light in the recent week about the blatant sexual harassment going on in the international tech scene, we talked to some women involved with startups and SMEs in Malaysia to see what their stories were.

We wanted to find out what were some things that the men in the workplace did that made women feel uncomfortable and crossed the line into sexual harassment.

We’ve kept the women who contributed to this article anonymous (except when requested not to) but one common thread that many of them brought up? It could happen to anyone.

Another thing that we found was many of these women who had these experiences left corporate jobs and environments to start their own companies.

However, as proven by some of the other messages we got, starting your own company doesn’t mean that you get to escape from the harassment.

#1

#2

– From a director of an education SME, said to her at a networking event.

#3

– Told to us by a VP of an education startup.

#4

– From a co-founder of an on-demand startup.

#5

– From a staff at an international clothing label.

#6

– From a former investment analyst for a large private equity fund.

#7

– From a co-founder of a startup in the advertising industry.

#8

– Told to us by a co-founder & CEO of an e-commerce startup. This happened during a job interview.

#9

– As told by a former management consultant.

#10

– From a programmer in the local tech scene.

#11

– Said about a former assistant manager in a education facility, to her face, in a meeting.

#12

– As shared by Xin-Ci Chin, co-founder of WatchOverMe (acquired by Carousell).

Sexual harassment should not be taken lightly. However too often it gets buried, be it through shame or the threat that your job or career could be negatively affected, through no fault of your own.

What we’ve learnt from all this is, there needs to be more conversation about it, and women have to be brave enough to step forward.

To be honest, although we already knew that this was happening, to hear first-hand accounts like these left us shocked and disgusted.

If you felt disturbed by some of the comments you’ve read above, remember that women have faced this and will continue to face this, unless something is done.

Some of the men implicated in the original New York Times article are beginning to face the music for their wrongdoing. It’s time that we help bring these actions to light.