[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/international-womens-day-metoo-movement-activist-dani-pereira\/#NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/international-womens-day-metoo-movement-activist-dani-pereira\/","headline":"International Women\u2019s Day: #MeToo movement activist, Dani Pereira","name":"International Women\u2019s Day: #MeToo movement activist, Dani Pereira","description":"Lawyer Dani Pereira experienced sexual harassment long before she even knew to call it that \u2014\u00a0 as did every single woman she studied or lived with.\u00a0 \u201cI lived in a house with three girls who were all studying to be barristers when I went to work at a law firm in London for a year. […]","datePublished":"2022-03-03","dateModified":"2022-04-15","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/rachel-teng\/#Person","name":"Rachel Teng","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/rachel-teng\/","identifier":367,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rachel_Teng-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rachel_Teng-100x100.jpg","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TheHomeGround Asia","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","width":640,"height":640}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/In-text-1280-X-626-px-V2-35.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/In-text-1280-X-626-px-V2-35.jpg","height":626,"width":1280},"url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/international-womens-day-metoo-movement-activist-dani-pereira\/","video":{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"VideoObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tif0P48XYh4#VideoObject","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tif0P48XYh4","name":"Aim For Zero: Dani's Story - Workplace Harassment","description":"At a work meeting, Dani's boss repeatedly propositioned her in a graphically sexual manner. After she rejected his advances, he continued to harass and bully her, until she finally left the company. \n\nToday, she speaks up courageously, calling for zero tolerance for sexual harassment at workplaces everywhere.\n\nAWARE's #AimForZeroSG campaign is fighting for a society without sexual violence of all forms. At http:\/\/aimforzero.sg\/employers, find a list of steps you can take at your company to stem harassment at the workplace. \n\nConsider reaching out to Catalyse (https:\/\/catalyse.sg), AWARE's corporate training division. Catalyse's \"Managing Workplace Harassment\" workshop explores the grey areas of harassment in the workplace and facilitates discussion based on real-life scenarios. catalyse@catalyse.sg\n\nLastly, if you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to seek support and advice, don't hesitate to reach out to AWARE's Sexual Assault Care Centre. Call 6779 0282 from Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm.\n\nhttp:\/\/aimforzero.sg\nhttp:\/\/sacc.aware.org.sg\nhttp:\/\/www.aware.org.sg","thumbnailUrl":["https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/tif0P48XYh4\/default.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/tif0P48XYh4\/mqdefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/tif0P48XYh4\/hqdefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/tif0P48XYh4\/sddefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/tif0P48XYh4\/maxresdefault.jpg"],"uploadDate":"2019-05-08T02:55:33+00:00","duration":"PT3M1S","embedUrl":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tif0P48XYh4","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCkgpC79ulQ1qyXA2enRf4Bg#Organization","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCkgpC79ulQ1qyXA2enRf4Bg","name":"AWARE Singapore","description":"AWARE is Singapore\u2019s leading women\u2019s rights and gender-equality advocacy group. Since 1985, AWARE has worked to identify and eliminate gender-based barriers through research, advocacy, education, training and support services\u2014including a long-running Women\u2019s Helpline and Singapore\u2019s only dedicated Sexual Assault Care Centre. AWARE's focus areas include supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence, enabling women to better balance work and caregiving, improving single mothers' access to affordable housing, and combatting workplace discrimination and harassment.","logo":{"url":"https:\/\/yt3.ggpht.com\/QB-0mfPZ-Yh1LmoAz-45_i7YjoCPJYeBpqgf4FXlucIYdpCmVq3pUbM0eTpJGOYwY8stpsYe0_s=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj","width":800,"height":800,"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tif0P48XYh4#VideoObject_publisher_logo_ImageObject"}},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tif0P48XYh4#VideoObject_potentialAction","target":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tif0P48XYh4&t={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"},"interactionStatistic":[[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tif0P48XYh4#VideoObject_interactionStatistic_WatchAction","interactionType":{"@type":"WatchAction"},"userInteractionCount":4094}],{"@type":"InteractionCounter","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tif0P48XYh4#VideoObject_interactionStatistic_LikeAction","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":16}]},"commentCount":"3","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/international-womens-day-metoo-movement-activist-dani-pereira\/#Comment1","dateCreated":"2026-05-02 10:12:42","description":"Well explained and easy to follow.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"world live tv online","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.sa\/redirect?q=https:\/\/www.oneotv.com"}},{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/international-womens-day-metoo-movement-activist-dani-pereira\/#Comment2","dateCreated":"2026-04-27 21:18:25","description":"Great effort, well appreciated.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"shoes women's on cloud","url":"https:\/\/globalshoepalace.com\/product-category\/women\/on-cloud-women-shoes"}},{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/international-womens-day-metoo-movement-activist-dani-pereira\/#Comment3","dateCreated":"2026-04-24 01:48:59","description":"This is going to help so many people.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Salomon men shoes","url":"https:\/\/globalshoepalace.com\/product-category\/men\/Salomon-Men-Shoes"}}],"about":["Community","Local","Sex & Gender","Singapore"],"wordCount":1868,"keywords":["aware","dani pereira","female","feminism","gaslighting","international women's day","lawyer","london","news","sexual harassment","sexual violence","UK","women","women in power","women's rights","workplace harassment"],"articleBody":"Lawyer Dani Pereira experienced sexual harassment long before she even knew to call it that \u2014\u00a0 as did every single woman she studied or lived with.\u00a0\u201cI lived in a house with three girls who were all studying to be barristers when I went to work at a law firm in London for a year. By the end of the year, every one of us had been sexually harassed at work,\u201d she says. “Maybe because we were so young, we all just kind of accepted that \u2018this kind of thing just happens\u2019. We talked about it and supported each other at the time, but we didn\u2019t see it as something that could change, just as something we had to get used to.\u201d\u00a0For her, the aggressor was a senior lawyer about 10 years older who asked her out repeatedly, got her number from the human resource (HR) department, and asked to take her out for coffee within her first week at the firm. He lived about 20 minutes away from her then, and would always find the opportunity to walk her home. She was only about 22 years old at the time.\u00a0Things did not get better when she returned to Singapore to continue her law school and training contract. That same lawyer moved to the island republic shortly after, and offered her a position at his company.\u00a0She took the job because it paid a lot more and offered a better work-life balance. \u201cI think I was just that stereotypical naive, young lawyer, to be honest. I kept thinking that since he had a live-in girlfriend, and he knew I had a boyfriend, surely I had nothing to worry about,\u201d she says.\u00a0After about a year, Ms Pereira started noticing a gradual shift in their work dynamics. From inappropriate comments about her appearance such as “haven\u2019t you noticed how everyone is staring at you?”, to inviting himself to dinner with her father that in a way she felt she could not get out of.\u00a0She recalls that she was asked to bring him his files from the office after he just had an operation. \u201cI don\u2019t know if he was on painkillers or anything, but he started talking to me about his operation \u2014 which was on his genitals \u2014 and telling me about what his surgeons had said about the size of his penis. I was so uncomfortable, I basically just ran away,\u201d she says.This bizarre lack of boundary between their social and work lives reached its peak about two weeks later, when he confessed to her in a public cafe at the lobby of their office building.\u00a0\u201cI thought it was definitely work-related and that I was getting fired. Or even that he was going to ask me to help him pick a ring for his girlfriend,\u201d she says. But he ended up telling her that he had been in love with her for years, and had moved to Singapore for her.\u201cI think I went into shock. After about a couple of minutes of this ridiculous declaration, I told him that I had never, and would never see him in this light,\u201d says Ms Pereira.\u00a0It should have ended there. But it became the first ten minutes of a two-hour conversation \u2014 one that she could not get out of because he was seated in a way that was blocking her exit. \u201cHe was convinced that we were in love with each other,\u201d she adds.\u00a0For the lack of options\u00a0It took her a year to get herself out of this situation \u2014 a year ridden with repeated unwanted advances, gaslighting, and Stockholm syndrome tactics.\u00a0\u201cWhile some of my friends were really supportive about it, a lot of people weren\u2019t,\u201d she says, adding that the only other woman in the office, another senior lawyer, just told her to \u201ckeep her head down\u201d, or that would be the end of her career. Her own mother, out of good intent, told her to \u201cget over it\u201d.\u00a0No one suggested that she get another job. Being a junior lawyer who had never quit a job in her life, she didn\u2019t think she could. Despite being Singaporean, she had an immigration issue where she needed to be on an Employment Pass (EP).\u00a0\u201cAnother reason was that every time I had a conversation with this man, he would say, \u2018no one else is ever going to give you another job. This is the best you\u2019re ever going to have; everything outside of this place is even worse\u2019. And in my naivete, I genuinely thought this was the case,\u201d she says.\u00a0He told her explicitly that if she were to move forward with the relationship, she would get more opportunities in the workplace, and that he had \u201call this money, and all I want to do is spend it on you\u201d.\u00a0When it was clear that she was never going to reciprocate, the advances turned into anger and ugly abuses of power. From describing explicit sexual fantasies about her doing the most everyday things at the workplace to forcing her to work overtime alone with him. These daily attacks became the source of her daily panic attacks.\u00a0\u201cWhen I told him I needed to go to a friend\u2019s birthday party, he made me photocopy papers until one in the morning. He wanted to be the centre of my whole existence,\u201d she says.When she moved to a different team, moving away from her original seat which was two metres away from her perpetrator, it triggered a full-on tantrum on his part. He would scream over the top of her head to the other colleague, \u201cHow could you take her away from me? She is mine!\u201d\u00a0Looking back now with a better understanding of how sexual violence and harassment operates, Ms Pereira says that it is really about control and power. \u201cAnd as soon as I started to assert my own level of ability to get myself out of the situation, it made him even worse,\u201d she says.\u00a0The beginnings of a revolution\u00a0Reporting these ongoings to the Human Resource (HR) department came to nought \u2014 which triggered a department-wide resignation out of protest. Back in London, the managing partners called her into the room and told her that there was nothing that \u201cthis man can do to you that would make us discipline him in any way, so you need to stop being so loud about this. At this point, you are bullying him\u201d.It wasn\u2019t until she told a concerned male colleague that things finally took a turn for the better. From that point on, he was like her champion, ensuring that she made a formal complaint and a settlement agreement with her firm.\u00a0Finally, after threatening to go to the police, she received a settlement offer, and a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to go along with it.\u00a0Her perpetrator was promoted the day after she filed the complaint, and she was later told explicitly that it was \u201cto show you that you cannot scare him\u201d.\u00a0\u201cThis is a very clear example of how easy it is for people to side with the person who makes them more money \u2014 the person who is male, white, and fits in with all your ideals \u2014 as opposed to a mixed-race Singaporean girl. They actually said to me, \u2018he makes so much more money than you. Why would we support you?\u2019,\u201d she says.\u00a0After her resignation, Ms Pereira did not turn into an activist overnight. Her plan was to keep her head down and get another job \u2014 but the #MeToo movement had other plans for her.\u00a0\u201cIt was like a switch that went off inside me. I just couldn\u2019t stop reading every single article about the women who came forward, why they came forward, what happened to them, and why others might not have come forward,\u201d she says, adding that this was what eventually drove her to therapy, and activism.\u00a0Channelling the good\u00a0Ms Pereira is now actively involved in projects like Hear to Change: an anonymous site for people to voice their experiences with sexual harassment anonymously in a supportive community, without having to worry about the repercussions. People like Ms Pereira herself who are under an NDA can then talk freely about what happened to them on the platform.\u00a0\u201cThere might not be any legal or practical outcomes at this site, but for many, it is the first step in being able to verbalise something that can be so difficult to talk about,\u201d she says.\u00a0Ms Pereira is the spokesperson for local women\u2019s rights group, AWARE, and their Aim For Zero campaign.\u00a0 (Video source: AWARE.)\u00a0Her other interests have also helped her heal along the way. \u201cI always say that yoga saved my life \u2014 it brought me the peace, meditation, and focus that I didn\u2019t have after a whole year of being bullied and traumatised at my workplace,\u201d she says. Now as a yoga teacher herself, she enjoys sharing her practice with others. Ms Pereira also looks to poetry as an outlet for expression. Most prominently, she took up martial arts during the time when she was being harassed in the workplace, and would go into the office with boxing gloves on her neck. \u201cIn my head, I thought this was going to show him that he couldn\u2019t hurt me, and that I could fend for myself,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cI found that it has been incredibly therapeutic to know that I will never feel physically helpless again. Having said that, I am firmly of the view that women should bear the burden of skilling themselves in martial arts just to feel safe,\u201d she adds.\u00a0Workplace harassment does exist in Singapore\u00a0From her personal experience, Ms Pereira says that as opposed to open predatory behaviour in more international work settings, workplaces in Singapore are more prone to subtle bullying or harassment.\u00a0She has, for instance, heard about senior partners ranking young associates by attractiveness in the elevators. Men and women alike were told that being in a relationship would reflect badly on their careers.\u00a0When asked how we can include men in the women\u2019s rights movement, she warns against the discourse that feminism is about \u201chating men\u201d. Instead, it\u2019s about our patriarchal society creating a culture of toxic masculinity, harming both men and women.\u00a0\u201cWho are the people who are suffering most from birth in the patriarch? Actually, I think it\u2019s men. You are told you cannot show emotions or be vulnerable in any way. You have to live in this toxic, macho, \u2018my d*ck\u2019s the biggest\u2019, and \u2018boys will be boys\u2019 culture \u2014 and that is so damaging,\u201d she says, citing the glaring high rates of suicide among young men as opposed to women worldwide.\u00a0\u201cWould I want to be born a man? No. All this is a direct result of us not being able to engage with men as a society, and I think it\u2019s so important to explain that. It\u2019s not just about women winning over men. We just want equality,\u201d she says.Join the conversations on TheHomeGround Asia’s Facebook and Instagram, and get the latest updates via Telegram."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Destinations","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singapore","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/\/singapore\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"International Women\u2019s Day: #MeToo movement activist, Dani Pereira","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/international-womens-day-metoo-movement-activist-dani-pereira\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]