Flight attendants of Hong Kong airline, Cathay Pacific, complain that their uniforms are cause for sexual harassment, The Telegraph reports.

According to Julian Yao who is the vice chairman of the Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendant Union (FAU), the female cabin crew expressed their concerns regarding the length of their white blouses and tightness of their red skirts.

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Michelle Choi, FAU honorary secretary, specifically cited that when the flight attendants bent down to get food from the trolleys, their skin showed since their blouses were too short. Moreover, they worried that these kinds of attire might provoke unwanted attention and lead to sexual harassment.

She speculates that the airline purposely designed the uniforms that way to make them look sexier to attract passengers. She added that a crew member is probably sexually harassed every one out of ten flights.

A study conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission earlier this year found that 27% of Hong Kong flight attendants were victims to being sexually harassed in the past year. Out of that 27%, a reported 86% or about 337 of the sexually-harassed flight attendants were female.

In a survey conducted by the Commission, sexual harassment acts were cited to include "patting, touching, kissing or pinching." Other answers also mentioned in the survey were "staring in a sexual way," propositioning for sexual favors and jokes or comments inflected with sexual innuendo.

Complaints such as these and requests to redesign the uniforms had been discussed with the FAU and forwarded to the airline company since 2011. The airline had not responded.

Recently however, Cathay Pacific issued a written statement to the South China Morning Post.

The Hong Kong airline said, "We do not tolerate any form of sexual harassment and take the issue of sexual harassment seriously." Further, they said that their attendants and crew are free to have their uniforms exchanged to a size which would better fit them.

TagsSexual, Harassment, Pressure, Unwanted advances, Hong Kong, airline