Being a flight attendant isn't easy. A new survey shows that 27 percent of flight attendants are sexually harassed.

Flight attendants are often the target of unwanted attention like patting, touching, kissing and pinching while on duty. A new survey by the Hong Kong-based Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), 27 percent of flight attendants were victims of sexual harassment. The survey included 86 percent females and 14 percent males. The results were based on 392 responses to 9,000 questionnaires that were distributed between November 2013 and January 2014 among employees of the HKFAA's member airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, British Airways and United Airlines.

Of the 27 percent of respondents who reported that they were sexually harassed while on duty in the last 12 months, 29 percent were women and 17 percent were males. They described the sexual harassment that they experienced as physical contact such as "patting, touching, kissing or pinching." However some also said they were sexually harassed through sexual states, being shows obscene or pornographic materials and receiving explicit requests for sexual favors.

From the responses, it was found that 59 percent of the sexual harassment came from customers and 41 percent came from fellow workers, including senior cabin crew and cockpit members.

The EOC released a statement saying that flight attendants and airline employees are vulnerable to sexual harassment from passengers and clients and not much is done about it.

"There is currently no legal provision protecting providers of goods, services and facilities against sexual harassment by their customers,"  Dr. John Tse Wing-ling, who leads the EOC's Policy and Research Committee said. "In this connection, the EOC urges the (Hong Kong) Government to extend the coverage of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance to protect service providers against sexual harassment by customers, which the EOC has long recommended."

Most international airlines have a policy on sexual harassment.