About one in four women in a recent survey said they had been victims of domestic violence, but fewer than one in 10 told police.
Also, 49 per cent of the respondents said they had been sexually harassed, but less than 3 per cent of them reported it.
The survey of 402 women was taken this month by the Hong Kong Women's Coalition on Equal Opportunities, which released the results yesterday.
Hui Pui-lam, a coalition spokeswoman, said the victims might not report the cases because they did not know that what they had been subjected to was a form of domestic violence or sexual harassment. "They might have experienced something that fits the definition, but did not know it," she said.
Hui said Section 40 of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance covered sexual harassment by someone providing goods, facilities or services to a woman, but not the other way around.
Hence stewardesses, make-up artists and other women providing a service would not be protected from sexual harassment from a client. Such cases, Hui said, would go unreported.
