There ought to be a law - but there isn't - the absence of which makes employees vulnerable targets for sexual harassment by their customers. Ming Yeung writes.

For as long as she can remember, Iris wanted to be a flight attendant. Her family was poor, so becoming a flight attendant was her only hope to see the world.

She recalls when she was back in secondary school hearing wealthy classmates talking about their exotic vacations during summer holidays.

Iris knew she was pretty and she charted a course to fly high one day. The new immigrant from the mainland worked hard, studied hard and got her bachelor's degree at a university in town. Just as she was about to graduate in 2006, she was hired by an airline company.

"It felt like a dream come true," Iris said, the recollection of her exciting moment still apparent from her tone. "The farthest I had been was to Thailand - with money I had saved from my part-time job."

So, Iris' dream came true. She shopped along the Ginza in Tokyo, went diving near Australia's Great Barrier Reef, trekked around the mountains outside Kathmandu, found peace of mind in India's magnificent Taj Mahal, and admired the architectural jewel Machu Picchu in Peru.

The shining images of girlhood dreams faded fast - growing a little darker every time she was humiliated by a male passenger openly leering at her, making sexually charged comments.

On a flight to the US, one mainland passenger who bestowed her a lubricious grimace whenever she passed would make a point of touching her, as if wanting it to appear unintentional. Then, as she was serving another passenger, the mainlander smacked her rear with his hand.

"I gave him a rude stare and he didn't seem bothered. I reported it to my supervisor. She did go and warn the passenger. After that, he still leered at me. It was so annoying and demeaning," said Iris.

Vulnerable target

What made things worse was there's nothing she could do, legally. There are no laws to protect her or her colleagues from sexual harassment inflicted by clients of her employer. That's how it is today.

Iris gave up her high-flying dream of being a flight attendant three years ago - but furious with indignation. She wanted justice. The airline seemed unwilling to take her complaints seriously - or refused to act on her complaints because there was no law backing up the complaints.

A discussion paper submitted to the Legislative Council concerning an amendment to the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (SDO) states, "whilst there is protection for a victim of sexual harassment by a provider of goods, services and facilities, section 40 of the SDO does not provide protection for the victim who may be providing such goods, services and facilities. This leaves persons employed in the service industry, in particular, vulnerable."

"The EOC (Equal Opportunities Commission) proposes that the government amend section 40(1) of the SDO to ensure that persons providing goods, services or facilities to another person are not sexually harassed by that other person in the course of offering to provide, or of providing, the goods, services or facilities."

From November last year to May this year, the EOC received two complaints from service providers who said they had been molested by their customers. One complaint came from a flight attendant allegedly sexually harassed by a passenger, another came from a domestic helper allegedly harassed by a person not residing at the premises where the foreign domestic worker was employed.

On the other hand, over the past five years, EOC received 33 complaints relating to service providers harassing customers. "Most of the cases were discontinued as they involved the use of language which was not necessarily sexual in nature under the provisions of the SDO," according to the paper submitted to the LegCo.

The Association for the Advancement of Feminism (AAF), a nonprofit organization that advocates gender equality through publicity and education, has been pressing for an amendment to the SDO since 1999. Only recently, however, has the administration started taking the matter seriously.

AAF did a study a couple of years ago about the disadvantages faced by young women required to wear uniforms when they deal with customers: flight attendants, saleswomen in high fashion and cosmetics departments, street promoters and servers in "cosplay" (costume play) cafes. These young women have to look good. It's a job requirement. They have to speak well and on top of selling their job is to promote their particular company's image. Somebody apparently invested some effort to try to characterize them, coining the term "aesthetic worker".

About 10 percent of calls handled by AAF are related to harassment complaints against service recipients. But Jodie Hui Pui-lam, AAF's coordinating officer, said the complainants often hang up disappointed at the discovery that the harassment for which they feel terribly victimized is all quite legal.

One of EOC's responsibilities is service as a conciliatory to resolve disputes. Hui acknowledges, however, that doesn't go far enough for some of the victims, who demand justice in a court. They have no interest in appeasement through some compensatory award. The threshold for EOC legal aid before the courts is really, really high.

Cathay Pacific Flight Attendants Union's chairwoman Dora Lai Yuk-sim said flight attendants are regular targets of sexual harassment. If it happens, the airline can only warn the passenger for his "unruly behavior". That, however, is the limit under the law. The passenger faces no legal liability.

In the cramped cabin, sometimes it is difficult to distinguish whether a passenger acted inadvertently in touching a flight attendant inappropriately, Lai said. Nonetheless, it's also standard practice for passengers to stare at flight attendants checking out their figures and other physical attributes. Lai cites other instances, like the case of a passenger who enquired of a flight attendant whether she would like to do a little work "on the side".

So that's the law of the jungle, so to speak, and nobody is likely too surprised by that. What is really shocking, however, is that on the mainland there are websites providing guidelines and descriptions about how to fondle. A passenger on board an aircraft was arrested for sexual assault back in 1999. In defense the man claimed he was just trying to determine if the instructions given in the online manual were appropriate for "feeling up" flight attendants.

But, exactly what is it about flight attendants that stirs up the lecherous "coffee, tea, or me" fantasies that male passengers love to nurture?

The International Transport Workers' Federation shouts, "Advertising!" "There's not an airline out there that hasn't, at some time, exploited the image that air travel involves being served by a physically desirable hostess," states its report.

To cope with the ever growing complaints of "misbehaving" passengers, Hong Kong Airlines has taken to teaching flight attendants Wing Chun Kuen, -- kung fu, to the uninitiated. It's been part of basic training for the last two years. Not only does it help the young employees to stay fit, it schools them in how to deal with a "troublesome" passenger by breaking his arm.

The picture in the catering industry is pretty similar, said Suzanne Wu Sui-shan, Organizing Secretary of the Catering and Hotels Industries Employees General Union. Servers in restaurants and housekeepers are at risk of workplace sexual harassment.

A housekeeper called the union to complain that she was asked for her "price" by a hotel guest. There's no law against it. There was nothing the union or the hotel could do.

Chloe, 21, got a part-time job last year, promoting beer. It was to help support her family. Sure, customers touched her she said. They really don't mean any harm, she says. She does acknowledge that her colleagues don't like it. But the supervisors simply tell them, "keep a stiff upper lip."

She told China Daily that some of her customers asked her to be their girlfriend. She didn't pay any attention. The way she sees it, it's just the customers' way of having fun.

And yes, part of the job is to be attractive to men. Chloe acknowledges, adding with a bright little laugh, "Better not to get too fat." Beer girls not only have to wear make-up but tight, tight, body hugging uniforms.

Preventive

To better protect employees, AAF's Jodie Hui said employers need to know how to deal with the situation if a sexual harassment case occurs in the workplace and EOC needs to update the Code of Practice on Employment. The code has remained unchanged for 17 years, even though there have been precedent setting cases concerning sexual harassment since.

Last June, the District Court, set a precedent, finding an employer vicariously liable in a case in which an employee was accused of harassment. The plaintiff was awarded HK$80,000 for her suffering. The employer was ordered to make a written apology to her.

"The ruling clearly illustrates the importance of having an effective policy not only to deal with sexual harassment after the fact, but also to prevent it, actively. In this case, the employer was held liable for its employee's unlawful acts as it did not have in place such a mechanism. The EOC calls on all employers to take proactive, specific steps to deter sexual harassment at work, as well as to ensure that victims of harassment receive proper support," the EOC states on its website.

"As far as I'm concerned, most employers don't intend to ignore complaints, they just didn't know how to handle them," she said.

Despite ongoing plans to amend the SDO, Hui thinks public education is of greater importance. She urged the government to give more attention to making the public aware of the issue.

Iris, who is a PR executive now, expects the SDO amendment will provide greater protection for those in the service and catering industry. "We just want to have decent jobs, be respected for what we do. At the end of the day, we just want to get off work, be safe and get back to our families."

Contact the writer at mingyeung@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 07/05/2013 page1)