A female entrepreneur talks about her experience of sexual harassment in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on Feb 18, 2025. - Photo: The Yomiuri Shimbun
TOKYO: Sexual harassment against female entrepreneurs is an ongoing problem.
Investors make up a large proportion of the perpetrators, and as the victims are in need of investment, it is difficult for them to come forward.
A group of sexual harassment victims submitted to the government on Wednesday (March 19) a request calling for the establishment of legislation to protect entrepreneurs from harassment.
‘Had no choice’
“Considering my relationship with the investor, I had no choice but to put up with it,” a woman in her 20s who runs a company in Yokohama said with frustration, recalling her own experience with sexual harassment.
She was invited to dinner by a male employee of an investment company about two years ago when she founded a company that develops and offers services utilizing artificial intelligence.
The male employee said he wanted to celebrate her starting her own business.
They went to an Italian restaurant and were talking about business.
Then the man suddenly started saying things like “I want to mess up women’s lives” and “I want to swindle money out of women and control them.”
While she found his remarks unnerving, she was unable to say anything against him because she was afraid that doing so would affect her business.
She spoke with a male entrepreneur acquaintance about the experience, but he dismissed her, saying, “He invested in your company, didn’t he?”
The woman was so distressed that she developed an adjustment disorder.
Although she gradually got better thanks to the support of the people around her, such as trusted business partners, she said, “I wouldn’t recommend starting a business if it means you’re going to be forced to endure sexual harassment.”
Unbalanced power relationship
In 2024, Eirene Management School, a Tokyo-based research and educational institution focused on entrepreneurship and management, conducted a survey on a total of 197 founders and directors of startups, 153 of whom were women.
Of all the respondents, 41.1% said they had been sexually harassed over the past 12 months. When limiting the scope to 105 female entrepreneurs, the percentage rose to 52.4%.
The most common perpetrators were “investors and officials from investment companies.” Many of the respondents experienced inappropriate remarks and questions such as “Why don’t you become my mistress?”
About 80% of the victims did not talk about their experiences with the people around them because they did not want their relationships to be destroyed, among other reasons.
“Entrepreneurs depend on investors when starting a business, which puts the investors in a position of power,” said Takanori Kashino, 40, an official at the institution who was involved in the survey.
“Many victims are forced to endure sexual harassment because they fear retaliation, such as losing investment.”
Managers fall outside legal protection
According to a survey conducted by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry in 2022, there were 1.03 million female entrepreneurs, representing 22.3% of the total.
The government set a goal of increasing this percentage to over 30% by 2025 in its Fifth Basic Plan for Gender Equality.
The number of female entrepreneurs is therefore expected to increase.
To prevent others from suffering in the future, entrepreneurs who have been sexually harassed established a group called the “Startup Union” in October 2024.
They are now working to strengthen measures to address the sexual harassment of entrepreneurs.
Japan currently aims to prevent sexual harassment with the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, which requires companies to take measures to prevent harassment.
However, the law only protects company employees. The Startup Union insists that it is necessary also to provide legal protection for entrepreneurs, who are company managers.
The request the group submitted asked the government to work to improve the situation through such means as setting up public consultation desks.
“Harassment violates people’s personal rights and should never be allowed,” said Yuichiro Mizumachi, a professor of labor law at Waseda University.
“It is essential to take effective preventive measures to directly protect entrepreneurs from harassment. The government needs to expand the scope of protection provided by the law.” - The Yomiuri Shimbun
