‘He hit me out of nowhere’: Half of Japanese businesswomen are sexually harassed

TOKYO (TR) – An online survey conducted over the summer revealed that nearly half of all female workers involved in startups have experienced sexual harassment.

This is especially true for female entrepreneurs, who are initially tasked with raising capital from individual investors and business entrepreneurs rather than financial institutions.

Public broadcaster NHK (Aug. 28) wonders what is happening in this industry, which is expected to act as a stimulus for the Japanese economy as they are willing to create new businesses that are taking risks and are willing to grow in a short period of time.

In order to find answers, NHK talks to women in the industry, who revive the broadcaster with stories about inappropriate statements and physical contact and being forced into unwanted relationships.

“He didn’t even look at the business plan I prepared”

Miho Matsuzaka is another woman who was sexually harassed as a businessman. “I want the current state of the industry to change,” he tells the broadcaster.

He has long wanted to establish a counseling business for couples after learning that the breakdown of relationships between couples also affects work performance, and he wanted to use this to solve problem.

“In the United States, it is common for couples to go to couples counseling if they have problems, but in Japan it is not taken seriously, and the divorce rate is increasing rapidly. I wanted to publish this in Japan, so I was determined to improve my business. “

Startups generally raise money from individual investors and corporate investors rather than financial institutions. It was at this point in his business development that Matsuzaka ran into trouble.

Once, while explaining his business plan to an investor, he encountered explanations that were hard for him to believe.

“A well-known private investor in the industry said to me, ‘I will invest in you, and I will pay you one million yen a month, so let’s be lovers,'” she recalls. “I was surprised that he did not even look at the business plan that I prepared, and that I have to do such things to get investment.

“He suddenly hit me”

After that, he was repeatedly harassed in his dealings with other investors. This included being asked to provide opportunities for sex.

“Even when I said I wanted to talk about work, [the investor] he changed the subject and asked me for a date, and when I arranged to meet him to show him my business plan, we ended up eating there, and he kissed me right after that. If he had just refused to invest, I would have thought, ‘I’ll try again,’ but when he asked me to give him something to have sex with, I was really hurt.”

Matsuzaka tried to talk to people he knew in the industry, but they told him, “You’re lying to try to embarrass someone,” and “You’re just a crazy person,” and he isolated himself even more.

“I was left alone, and everything I thought I had – money, connections, health – was gone,” he says. think that my life was to start a business, at that time I was very confident thinking that I can do it and it will be successful, but even though I can’t give up on my dream, I can’t. [make this work]so it’s very sad.”

As his distrust of the industry grew, he developed symptoms of depression and had no choice but to give up on starting a business altogether.

Being forced into unwanted relationships

NHK wonders: How common is this kind of harassment?

In an online survey about sexual harassment in the startup industry released in July, 47.7 percent of 153 women who responded said they had been sexually harassed in the past year. For female entrepreneurs alone, the number rose to 52.4 percent.

In addition to inappropriate language and physical contact, 30 percent of victims were forced into unwanted relationships, or quid-pro-quo sexual harassment, where they were forced to give something . The perpetrators were often people in positions of power, such as investors or business partners.

Harassment by a business partner

One interviewee, a woman in her 30s who worked as a vice president of a start-up business, said she was being harassed by her business partner.

He says: “When we held the event, the president of the sponsoring company came and called me when no one else was there. “He said, ‘Let’s take a souvenir photo,’ so I agreed, and suddenly he kissed me and took a photo with me. It was a terrifying experience for me, as it was for someone I had never met before.”

A woman in her 20s who started a business as a student says she was asked by investors to marry her or put her hand on her waist many times.

A business student remembers what happened to him six months ago. “During the meeting, one capitalist said, ‘I will rub your shoulders,’ and grabbed my chest from behind. The attacker himself didn’t seem to feel guilty, and sent me random messages like, ‘How’s business going lately?’ I still have a lot of things that happened in this incident, and I am plagued with regret and regret that I did not go to the police. This is not something that can be dismissed just because it’s a startup world, but I want people to have a sense of compliance.

A female student told the broadcaster, “Even though I say I want to start a business that produces AI, I am often told, ‘You are a girl, so don’t try so hard to start a business, just get married; ‘ or ‘You were born beautiful, so why not start a beauty business?’ A famous private equity investor once told me, ‘I don’t think you’re going to get big because you’re a woman,’ and I never showed up at any of the investment events he held, so I Consider one of my investment opportunities. it was gone.”

“You will be crushed”

Many people also say that the problem of trying to deal with sexual violence and prejudice against women is that it can have a negative effect on the growth of the startup.

Amina Sugimoto has raised hundreds of millions of yen and is developing a business related to women’s health.

She spoke to other investors and entrepreneurs about sexual harassment that a female member of her company received from an investment company, but was advised that “it is better silence if you want to continue growing your business.”

Sugimoto says: “Most of them told me, ‘They are powerful people in the industry, so don’t anger them, you will be overwhelmed.’ If you don’t build a good relationship with investors, it will affect your evaluation when you make the next big investment, so there is an invisible power relationship. Also, the level of the startup industry in Japan is very low they can say cool things, in the end that’s all [Japan] situation, so I wonder if it was a mistake to start a business in this country. ”

Companies grow by raising money regularly from investors, and often intend to make an initial public offering (IPO) or merger and acquisition (M&A) within about 10 years, but only a few reach here. Some people say they hit an unexpected wall before it’s all over.

A female CEO who is preparing to go public tells NHK that when she tried to appoint a trusted female member to a management position she met with strong opposition from the person in charge of the company’s external auditor. for an IPO.

A female executive says, “I was told, ‘Women don’t know how to look at things from a bird’s eye view, so they can’t be managers,’ and ‘Women are more vulnerable to money laundering.’ they don’t have financial problems because they are raising children and taking care of the elderly.’ I think he may have had good intentions, but I was surprised and uncomfortable with such strong bias.”

However, since the evaluation of this external agency will affect the value of the startup business and the evaluation when it comes to publishing, he says that he will not ignore it even if he thinks there is something wrong.

“If I make him angry,” says the first-time female executive, “it could affect our financial performance and the IPO, so I’m very nervous about how I’ll react. It’s not not only the investor but also these external organizations are like gatekeepers for the growth of the startup, and unless these people are convinced, we will not go to the next step.”

“A small, male-dominated world with few species”

The aforementioned study was conducted by Takanori Kashino of the University of Chicago. He says there are three reasons why sexual harassment is so prevalent in the startup industry: sexism and discrimination; the balance of power within the industry; and the need for security measures.

Kashino says: “There is still a strong prejudice against women and societal norms about how women should be in society, and there are few people who question or underestimate the ability of women. In addition, the startup industry is a small, male-dominated world with very few minorities, which may increase discrimination and prejudice.”

The ratio of men to women in the startup industry is very skewed. For example, in venture capital, only 7.4 percent of investment decision-makers are women. Furthermore, only 2% of newly registered companies have female presidents.

In recent years, start-ups are expected to act as a bulwark for the sluggish Japanese economy. As full support kicks in, as the government announces it will increase investment to 10 trillion yen by fiscal 2027 as part of the Five-Year Start-Up Plan, Kashino points out that the measures urgent is needed.

He says: “The government is also trying hard to increase the number of people starting a business, and many business programs aimed at women are being launched. In recent years, we have seen more women entering fields that were previously dominated by men. If we continue as we are now, with only measures to encourage startups and no protection measures for entrepreneurs, I fear that the number of people who become victims will increase. ”