As aware travelers are of cheap traveloptions, such as cheapairplane tickets and cheap vacation packages,passengers are generally unaware of the sexual abuse taking place on a regularbasis of flight attendants while in the air. Patting, touching, kissing, and pinching is common.
A survey is now available which provides real statisticsand descriptions (such as those above) to the types of sexual harassmentencountered by flight attendants while on duty.
The Honk Kong based Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC)announced its finding on February 20th. Survey results were based on 393 responses to9,000 questionnaires distributed between November 2013 and January 2014 amongemployees of Hong Kong Flight Attendants Alliance member airlines, includingBritish Airways, Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, and United Airlines.
86 percent of the survey respondents were female and 14percent were male. The EOC believes thatthe percentage of respondents to its survey was low because most flightattendants are not based in Hong Kong, making it difficult for them to respond. Also some attendants consider sexualharassment an embarrassing or difficult subject and are not be comfortablesharing such experiences with others.
Included in the surveys finding was:
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27percent of the respondents (29 percent of women, 17 percent of males) reportedbeing sexually harassed while on duty flying over the last 12 months.
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Sexualharassment most commonly occurred in the form of physical contact, described aspatting, touching, kissing, or pinching.
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Othertypes of sexual harassment experienced included lewd jokes, staring in a sexualway, showing obscene or pornographic pictures, and explicit requests for sexualfavors.
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59percent of the sexual harassment came from passengers, with the other 41percent from fellow employees, including senior cabin crew and cockpit members.
Flight attendants are particularly vulnerable to sexualharassment initiated by passengers, according to the EOC. The reason is that currently there is no legalprovision protecting airline employees against sexual harassment by theircustomers.
The EOC has urged the Hong Kong Government to extend thecoverage of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance to protect service providersagainst sexual harassment by customers. Unfortunately this is a long standing recommendation that has yet to beagreed upon.
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