Speaking to Singapore Tatler, the founder and chief executive of Half The Sky recounted one striking example of a female candidate who was close to being offered a job by one of her clients, an international company based here. However, the candidate then told Sabrina that she was pregnant.

“She was terrified when she broke the news. She asked me if she was going to lose the opportunity but I told her ‘No, don’t worry, it’s great news’ and that I’d speak to the employers. 

“Guess what happened? The next day I spoke to the company’s HR manager, who then said they could no longer offer the position.” 

The company had also requested not to reveal the real reason behind their unwillingness to employ the female candidate—which was the fact that she was pregnant. And this was just one of many cases that Sabrina had come across. 

“When I experience these real-life cases, as a woman myself, I feel sick to my stomach. Why do women have to go through this? After years of frustration, I decided to do something about this and I want to make a change and an impact. 

“So I started Half The Sky to connect companies who have the policies and initiatives needed for employees to succeed—especially females. Two years ago, I started asking myself what my passion and what my purpose in life is. I slowly found that I was questioning myself why I felt angry or frustrated when I met women who were held back due to various circumstances or were discriminated. How could I incorporate what I’m passionate about with my expertise and combine it with a problem I saw?”

To date, there are at least 14 companies listed on Half The Sky, including big-name corporations such as PayPal, DuPont, UPS, Google and more. Each company that gets on board will be thoroughly vetted. This is to ensure that they have policies for working women in place, like flexible working arrangements, return-to-work policies, paid parental leave, breastfeeding rooms, and leadership opportunities. And if companies don’t meet the criteria, the Half The Sky team will work with them to implement said policies.

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“Female candidates can see everything on our platform,” Sabrina added. “They don’t even need to ask certain questions during the interview process, because everything they need to know is up there on the platform already ... This transparency gives candidates a sense of ease.”

The website, which was up and running on January 1 this year, had its soft launch two weeks ago at Mark, The Work Project at Capital Tower. Society friends such as Jade Kua, Susan Peh and Melissa Peh were also in attendance.

The by-invite-only event also featured a panel discussion on “How Diversity And Inclusion Can Attract And Retain Great Talent”. 

The speakers included Alexandra McKenzie, deputy high commissioner at the British High Commission, Singapore; Sara Cheng, CEO of Fuji Xerox Singapore; Chris Mead, head of APAC talent acquisition for DuPont; and Duncan Hewett, senior vice president and general manager for VMware's business in Asia Pacific and Japan.

“We wanted this discussion to take place at our first launch event because we want [these trailblazers] to move the needle forward with us—both the female CEOs and also male leaders,” Sabrina enthused.

“With the panel of speakers, we wanted to set the tone and cause a ripple effect so that more companies will come on board. I chose them because they’re strong believers in creating a gender diverse workforce within their companies.”

On top of adding value to the careers of other people, Sabrina’s ultimate goal is to change industry standards as she believes it’s also a “business imperative” to work towards gender equality in the workplace. 

Half The Sky will have its official launch during the early part of 2020, but already, Sabrina has grand plans to go further with the platform. She hopes to start a STEM academy just for women, and also incorporate AI and AR technology on the website so that a career adviser is constantly available for female professionals who may need help in areas such as practising their interview skills. 

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But these are her long-term strategies. What about now? Asked if she’s contented with what she’s done so far, Sabrina shared this:

“During the past 10 years, I’ve been happy. I’ve reaped rewards but something was still missing. I wasn’t very passionate about what I was doing even though I could do my job with my eyes closed. I love what I do; I think passion and purpose drove me to found this website."

In the upcoming months, Sabrina and her team intend to roll out a more comprehensive list of jobs focused on categories such as Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMET), full-time to part-time, and back to work returnees. There's a need to level the playing field for women at work and help companies build a diverse and robust workforce—and perhaps Half The Sky could be the platform that women with career aspirations need.