harassment if proposed changes to the Human Rights Act are passed when Parliament reconvenes in the fall.

Women's Advisory Council chairperson Mrs. Kim Young said yesterday the group was "very happy'' with the proposed amendments tabled in the House of Assembly last week. She noted that landlords making sexual moves on their tenants was a real problem in Bermuda.

However, Mrs. Gay Robinson of the Women's Resource Centre said even with the amendments, the Act would be "lacking in a number of areas''.

She said the centre was most concerned the changed Act would still call for victims of sexual harassment to tell their story at a public hearing.

The planned changes will also allow for employees who sexually harass fellow employees to be prosecuted.

Mrs. Young said the existing Act was "very soft'', covering only employee-employer relationships.

If the proposed amendments are passed high school students could bring sexual harassment complaints against more senior students and their teachers, and waitresses against their customers, she said.

"It will cover a lot more areas,'' she said. "I don't foresee any problems with passing it (in the House).'' However, the proposed changes apparently do not offer any recourse for men whose landladies come on too strong.

When Community Affairs Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons tabled the proposed amendments in the House last Friday he said the Ministry planned to amend the Act by adding the following section: "A person who occupies accommodation has a right to freedom from sexual harassment by the landlord, or by an agent of the landlord, or by the occupant of the same building.'' So what about landladies who sexually harass their tenants? According to Mrs. Young, who worked with the Human Rights Commission to draw up the amendments, it "probably does happen''.

She said the authors probably meant "landlord'' in the generic sense. But she promised to look into having the proposed amendment changed to include "landlady'' by the time it comes up for debate in the fall.

Although she had not heard of any cases where landladies had been accused of sexually harassing their tenants, she said there had been a number of complaints of landlord harassment.

"It has been brought up many times by residents who say they are being sexually harassed by their landlords when they go to pay their rent each month,'' she said. "Imagine what they have to go through each week or month because they need to keep a roof over their head.'' If the amendments are passed, tenants will be able to take action without fear they will be evicted, she said.

Mrs. Robinson, who is on the steering committee of the Women's Resource Centre, said she would rather victims of sexual harassment be able to go straight to the courts with their complaints -- instead of to the Human Rights Commission.

"It takes away from the seriousness of the offence,'' she said ."If it is against the law it should be treated that way.

"And why do women have to go through a public hearing? It opens it all up again -- look what happened to Anita Hill. It is very embarrassing for a woman to have to go through that.'' She further said the Act should allow for victims to get financial compensation for being forced to quit their job because of sexual harassment.

And she said the Act should state what the penalties are for people found guilty of the offence.

Mrs. Young defined sexual harassment as "deliberate or persistent unsolicited verbal comments, gestures or physical contact of a sexual nature considered unwelcome by the recipient.''