I am a working professional making a monthly salary of over S$4,000. My husband was unemployed with a gambling addiction. He controlled all of our finances and limited my spending by giving me an allowance of two dollars a day for daily transport to and from work, lunch, etc. I called a domestic violence hotline to air my grievances. They explained that even though my husband was not being physically violent, he was in fact financially abusing me. They urged me to confront him and when I did, my husband swore to change his ways. We currently share control of finances and he is seeking help for his gambling problem and looking for a job. Meanwhile, I began volunteering at the same hotline which helped me so much, so I can help other women in need.

I am an accountant. My father died when I was four years old and my mother remarried when I was ten. I loved my stepfather as if he were my father. He was always kind to me. When I was 12 he began to enter my bedroom while everyone was sleeping and touch me. I told my mother and she called me a liar. I never told anyone again, including my husband.

In college I started dating a fellow student in one of my classes. He was handsome and polite and we fell in love quickly. One night, two months after we had started dating he forced me to have sex with him. I told him to stop, but he kept saying that he loved me. I cried the entire time.

One day, I was seated near the middle of a crowded bus on my way home from my job as a barista. A man came and stood next to me. I began to notice him deliberatley rubbing his genital parts on my shoulder. I looked around to see if the others on the bus were noticing this, but no one said anything to him. Shocked and disgusted, I alighted the bus at the next stop and walked the rest of the way to my destination. Now, whenever I see someone mistreating another person, I make sure to speak up and defend the person being harassed.

My name is Anna. I married my high school sweetheart when I was 19. The violence started when I was 5 months pregnant with our first child. He would hit me for forgetting to wash his clothes, or questioning his frequent late nights out, but I stayed by his side because he always seemed sincere in his apologies. Three children later, my husband started having an affair and kicked me out of the house. With nowhere else to go, a social worker placed me in a crisis shelter for abused women where I am learning employment skills and developing the ability to stand on my own.

My name is Anna. In order to support my family I moved away from home and got a job as a domestic worker. My employers seemed kind at first, but behind closed doors they started to treat me poorly. When the lady of the house is displeased with me, she pinches my ears and calls me stupid. Once, she burned my arm with a hot iron and when the neighbours heard my screams of pain they called the police. Since then, my employers have never mistreated me again.

I grew up in a small village with no running water or electricity. One day an employment recruiter from an international employment agency came to our village and encouraged me and my sisters to pursue nanny positions in a nearby country. As the oldest child, I decided to sign up for a 2 year contract. When I arrived in the country, I was told I owed the employment agency money and was forced to work at a nightclub and have sex with clients to repay my debt or they would tell my family I was a prostitute. They even threatened to hurt them if I didn’t comply.