In celebration of women around the world, we speak to three Malaysians about how they conquered bias, stereotypes, and discrimination in their respective industries

How hard is it to break the bias? Is a world that's free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination a faraway dream? This year's International Women's Day (IWD) theme, #BreakTheBias, aims to uplift women around the world and empower them to stand up and speak up to break the bias in communities, schools, and workplaces to level the playing field.

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In reflection of this day, we speak to three Malaysian women—a film and TV producer and screenwriter, a photographer, and a gamer—about their challenges, changing archaic perceptions and steering the narrative to create a more positive change.

1. Wong Shu Faye, Influencer and Gamer

At 11 years old, Wong Shu Faye had her first taste of the gaming world when her classmates introduced her to MapleStory, a free-to-play, 2D, side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It was love at first sight and a game that'll forever hold a special place in my heart (and a tattooed spot on her arm).

"My classmates and I would play MapleStory after school. It required a lot of grinding and farming so I spent a lot of my afternoons behind the computer. I remember the grind got so bad that I fell asleep at the computer once while grinding and my character died in a pool of wraiths. And we only had one PC at home so I had to fight my brother every day to the point of crying or ruining each other's personal belonging," she reminisces. What about homework? "I would rush my homework in school, during breaks or free periods, so that I didn't have to worry about doing them at home!"

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Growing up a casual gamer, aside from MapleStory, Wong also played The Sims, Club Penguin, and the Xbox. Then, in college, she discovered Dota 2. "They say that Dota 2 isn't a beginner-friendly game because there are too many things to learn, but because my friends were already playing it, it was easier for me to pick it up. I then met more friends and began playing every day in a cybercafe until night came. Just as I did in primary school, I'd start my assignments earlier and complete them in small doses every day so that I'd have more time to play Dota 2. In fact, while others would study the night before an exam paper, I'd be playing games to relax," she shares.

The 26-year-old still plays Dota 2 today and it has brought her many career opportunities. However, the game industry and esports are still traditionally male-dominated, with a handful of women in the scene. While Wong says she hasn't personally encountered men who are disrespectful of women at gaming events and tournaments, many can be very toxic when they encounter a girl in their game or see a girl being involved in esports.

"There was an article written about me and a guy commented that I’m probably one of those typical female streamers who depend on my face and assets to gain views and have no game sense whatsoever. I was relatively new in the scene and I was quite affected. I went through a lot of character development because I used to be someone who cared a lot about what others thought of me, especially on stream," she says, adding that the incident taught her to stand up for herself.

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"I gradually became braver at speaking up when I sensed something was wrong, and I would speak up for others too. When I’m faced with sexist comments now, I always remind myself of the hard work that I've put in. I've been trying to contribute to the esports scene and creating content that gamers can relate to, and people who have something nasty to say have probably done nothing to help the scene."

Sexist comments about gamer girls bore me. I ignore them unless it’s constructive criticism and focus on my own goals instead.

- Wong Shu Faye -

How did she eventually get people to take her seriously?

"People just need to watch my stream to get to know me. I let my results speak for themselves, and it hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows. There are times when I do well and times when I don’t, but I'm grateful for these experiences. For example, I used to play with a popular European streamer and the chat was brutal. There were a lot of sexist comments and people making fun of my Southeast Asian accent. The streamer told me to ignore them and enjoy the game. Not everyone gets the privilege to play with their favourite idol, to host or cast for a big tournament. I try to focus on the good things."

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"When trolls come in and spew hate, I'd usually block them or say something sarcastic to shut them up," she says with a laugh. "I think it’s very important to let others see that you’re the kind of person that can’t be taken advantage of, while still making sure you’re humble."

That said, Wong says she feels the scene will always be toxic no matter what: "As long as we, as a community, are quick to call out and educate others on sexism, we can definitely make the gaming scene a better place for women. I feel like it has gotten better in recent years and people are more socially aware now because there are more girls entering the scene. Many girls are joining their friends and boyfriends for games, some even aspire to be pro players or casters. Support each other. A game is not just a game, so don’t underestimate the impact it has on your behaviour in real life!"

2. Annice Lyn, Photographer

When Annice Lyn discovered that she could use her experience as a figure skater to bring a unique perspective to her photos, her mind was set on she wanted to pursue.

She started photographing figure skaters in 2015 with a Canon 550D camera kitted with the standard 18-55mm lens, taking shots behind the scenes of what went on at the rink. Her work caught the attention of the Malaysian Ice-Skating Federation and earned her an invite to the 12th National Figure Skating Championship and the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games 2017 as the official photographer.

Before long, she was chalking up photography accreditations for some of the biggest sporting events. She was the first female Malaysian photographer at 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang; she followed that up by covering the 2019 World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan. She was walking amongst giants.

Read more: Former National Figure Skater Turned Photographer Annice Lyn On Lessons From Behind The Lens

"I was anxious, filled with uncertainties (without prior knowledge in photography aspects aside to my advantage, being a former competitive figure skater) and extremely intimidated to be in the presence of the sports photographers who're practically legends that I look highly upon and never ever dreamed of shooting alongside with," the Gen.T honouree reveals.

However, it was through these events that she realised the number of female sports photographers were seriously lacking. It's still very much a male-dominated industry.

"When I first started out, to earn a spot and prove my merit to shoot alongside those guys, I experienced being oppressed, belittled, and verbally harassed while I was on assignment. It came as a shock to me and because I didn't know how to defend myself, I could only apologise even when I didn't need to," the self-taught photographer shares.

Her worst experience happened closer to home, years later: "One of the most disheartening incidents was to have a mentor I looked up to and thought was nurturing me over the years belittle me by saying, 'You won't make it to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games'."

But she proved him wrong. Lyn sacrificed her 2022 Chinese New Year celebrations and boarded her flight to China to take her seat in the press box at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

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"I've realised that we can neither control how others perceive us nor how they treat us, but we can use these setbacks to further improve ourselves by giving grace and valuing our work. You can either see this as a place of fear or use it as an opportunity and motivation to push yourself forward. Holistically I believe in getting your fundamental rights. It's as simple as ABCs: attitude, behaviour, character. Skills can always be developed, but if you can’t get your ABCs right, you may need to self evaluate. Work hard, stay humble, and let the photos show."

If you don't value your work, then who will? Over time, I learned to pick my battles.

- Annice Lyn -

In April 2021, Lyn took the iconic 'Climate is Everything' (Malaysian artist Red Hong Yi's fiery artwork) shot for Time magazine's 2021 cover. On top of being a Canon Malaysia EOS Youth Ambassador and a notable Southeast Asia Women of the Future Award 2020 laureate, Lyn also co-founded Women Photographers Malaysia which seeks to develop an inclusive culture through visual storytelling. Through Women Photographers Malaysia, she continues to advocate bridging the gaps in gender equality and promoting the women who're paving their way in the photography industry.

"To steer the narrative to create a more positive change, we need to not only celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women but also to mark a call to action for accelerating gender parity. As we collectively champion gender equality, especially towards education and opportunity, it's also important that we keep in mind to not step into a reverse gender inequality of oppressing men and others just to lift ourselves (women) up," she explains.

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"We should learn how men can become better allies to women in support of what we do and empower women by encouraging them to find strength within in order to start putting themselves forward. This applies in a woman to woman situation as well. In times when we may have a disagreement, instead of calling each other out and adapting the cancel culture, we should learn to lean in, call in, and be respectful of others," Lyn adds.

3. Adele Lim, Producer and Screenwriter

Adele Lim is no stranger to the entertainment industry. Film and TV producer, screenwriter, and soon-to-be director, the Asia's Most Influential honouree has been honing her writing skills since she was a little girl. What started as scribbles in her composition book would later evolve into more serious writing: presenting stories for her primary school's elocution contest, writing choral reading poems for her class in secondary school, scoring her first paying job writing a weekly column in The Star newspaper, and writing class plays in junior college, before culminating in getting a job in TV writing.

After nearly two decades in TV writing, she joined the team which made the insanely successful 2018 romantic comedy-drama film, Crazy Rich Asians.

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She may be a force to be reckoned with now but being not just an Asian but also a Southeast Asian female in the US in a typically white-dominated and male-dominated industry hasn't exactly been a bed of roses.

"I wanted to come to the US very badly as I thought there was certain equality and parity between the sexes here because that’s the US you see on the outside. Some traditional families in Malaysia have a preference for boys. In different aspects of our society, being a man somehow automatically gives you a heads up or a certain standing in the family. It enraged me. I thought it was complete garbage that many cultures prioritise boys and I grew up with a huge chip on my shoulder about that because it's just negating 50 per cent of the population. My mother and my grandmother were such strong role models for me. They were the centre of the family and they did so well professionally. For them to be seen as anything other than complete equals was ludicrous to me," she laments.

"The interesting thing is this: after I arrived in the US, even though they purport to have complete equity and parity, they actually don’t! It’s just not as overt as in Malaysia. When you look at the numbers of how many women are running companies, how many women are on boards, the earning potential of women and realistically, how much household income come from women working, it’s greater in general than it is for women in the US.

"Most of my American friends' mothers were stay-at-home mothers, and this is not to take away anything from stay-at-home mothers, but it was interesting to me that most of my friends’ mothers in Malaysia had careers and if you look at studies about maternal employment, working mothers' daughters will have a higher chance of having careers of their own. Between that and the tradition of the depiction of women as warriors and leaders in Hong Kong action movies... we grew up with that and took that for granted in a way that they didn’t really have that in the US."

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She continues: "The first challenge was not being aware of the gender disparities when I first came. It took a long time to pick up the non-obvious cues. The second challenge was figuring out how those biases affect my professional life."

Be fearless. Be completely fearless.

- Adele Lim -

"A lot of it is implicit bias so a lot of male showrunners think they're not being biased. If you're a white man in the US, chances are the person who'd understand your voice best is another white male writer. It doesn’t mean anybody else’s point of view isn’t valid, but if you’re the showrunner and you want people to sound and think like you, that person is going to have to look like you. That has been a huge issue for American programming and something that they're trying to correct now!"

In true 'let your work speak for itself' fashion, Lim soldiered on and rose above the biases, kept a laser focus on doing what she does best–embracing her roots and bringing authenticity to Hollywood through her writing. Her latest work, Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon, which features Disney's first Southeast Asian princess, received various accolades, including a nomination for Best Animated Feature Film at Oscars 2022.

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In parting, to those about to embark on a similar journey, Lim says: Be fearless. Be completely fearless. Don't be afraid of failure because there's no such thing as failure. It's very easy to get into the pattern of blaming the marketplace or your opportunities for not being able to do the things that you love, but in this day and age, particularly as a writer, you need no materials to write. Like barely any. If you're a true creative, don’t expect the structure or a process to give you the success you are looking for. Have faith in your own vision and your own journey and understand that it's a learning curve."

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