Participate in a study on the career effects of sexual harassment on working women in Singapore!

Who can join?

• We are currently looking for individuals who identify as women, aged 20 to 65 years.
• They must have experienced sexual harassment at work in the past five years.
• Preferably, they should have received formal emotional support (such as counselling, psychology, social work or a related service) for sexual harassment.
• Participants should be willing to participate in a 90-minute interview.

All participants will be given $50 as a token of appreciation. Interviews are in English.

What is workplace sexual harassment?

Workplace sexual harassment is any unwelcome, unwarranted and uninvited conduct or behaviour of a sexual nature by an individual at work (including part-time, contract work, internships, etc.). It can happen at your place of work, or outside the office at work-related activities such as company functions, corporate events, team-building exercises or out-of-town business trips. The harassers can be managers, work colleagues, clients, suppliers, volunteers or industry peers. Sexual harassment can be a single event or take place repeatedly over time. Harassment can be verbal, visual, or physical. Both men and women can commit sexual harassment and be sexually harassed.

Support for respondents

Referrals to AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC) and Workplace Harassment and Discrimination Advisory (WHDA) can be made before or after the interview. Emotional support is available, upon request, during the interview. Participation in the research is NOT a requirement in receiving referrals for help.

Confidential and anonymous

This research will be confidential. Information such as your identity, your workplaces and others involved will be anonymised. We will not contact your workplace or other people involved.

To participate, contact communications@aware.org.sg

Frequently Asked Questions

• What if I’m not sure that my sexual harassment was severe enough, or that I even experienced sexual harassment in the first place?

Sexual harassment can take many more forms than you might be aware of. If you even suspect that you have experienced sexual harassment, please reach out! We want to hear from you.

• Must my sexual harassment have been documented or reported officially for me to participate?

You are eligible to participate in this study whether you took any official action or not. The decision to report sexual harassment is difficult—many survivors choose not to because of career and safety concerns—so it is understandable to decide not to report.

• Will my company find out and retaliate against my participation in this study?

All participants’ interviews and details will be anonymised—including identifying details of the companies and the harassers—to protect the participants. There will be no release of confidential and private details. AWARE will not contact any of the companies or people discussed during the interviews. The audio recording of your interview will be deleted after the report is published, following research protocols. All the data about the report will be kept encrypted to protect your privacy.

• Do I have to name my harasser?

No. You don’t need to use any full names or identifying details when describing your experiences to us.

• What if talking about my sexual harassment is stressful or traumatic for me? 

We will offer counselling services before and after your interview. A trained counsellor from AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre can sit in for support during the interview, if you request. Your interviewer will be a woman with experience in interviewing survivors sensitively and confidentially.

We understand that being interviewed about past sexual harassment can be traumatic. For some survivors, it helps to view the experience as an opportunity to understand a wider context of the traumatic event, and possibly even help other survivors.

• I have other concerns about this research. Who do I talk to?

You can directly email the project consultant, Jasmine Gomez, at jasmine@aware.org.sg, or email AWARE’s Shailey Hingorani at communications@aware.org.sg.