and domestic violence of women are serious problems, according to a shock survey revealed last night by the Women's Resource Centre.

And more than half of those who responded to the survey said women are not given a fair deal in Bermuda.

The statistics were unveiled by Bermuda College academic and pollster Walton Brown Jr., who carried out the telephone survey of 279 people over a two-week period.

And he said the Women's Resource Centre "had its work cut out'' -- but to educate men, not women.

A massive majority of eight out of ten agreed or agreed strongly that domestic violence was a serious problem.

Almost the same number agreed or agreed strongly that sex assaults, including rape, was a blight on Bermuda life.

A total of seven in ten (68.5 percent) said sexual harassment in general was a major issue, while more than 50 percent agreed sexual harassment in the workplace was a problem.

More than 73 percent of those polled said unwanted touching was sexual harassment, while 71 percent cited sexually explicit comments and more than one in two mentioned sexual innuendo.

Women's Resource Centre executive director Joanne Curnow said: "I'm not sure if the results were a surprise.

"But it was interesting to see the number of people who feel abuse is a problem in Bermuda, whether domestic violence, sexual abuse or sexual assaults.

"What the Bermuda public was saying it's a large problem here -- but that doesn't always seem to be taken seriously in the courts.

"It is a problem -- but when you get down to individual cases, it doesn't seem to be regarded as serious.'' But Mr. Brown, who donated his time as a gesture of support for the Women's Resource Centre, said public opinion showed huge support -- nearly 98 percent -- for the work of support groups aimed at women were "very important''.

Mr. Brown added that the survey showed a marked difference between opinions held by women and men.

He said: "Half the male population believe that women are in fact treated fairly in Bermuda -- but just under a quarter of women believe that women are treated fairly.'' He said the male view of sexual harassment showed only 12 percent "very strongly'' agreed it was a problem, while a third (33 percent) disagreed that it was a serious problem at all.

Domestic violence a serious problem -- opinion poll That compared to a figure of 15 percent of women who believed sexual harassment was not a major issue.

He added that the workplace view showed that "almost half of the male population do not believe its a serious problem compared to 22 percent of women.'' And 46 percent of women view sexual assault and rape as a major problem compared to 26 percent of men.

Mr. Brown said: "It seems to suggest that part of the effort in helping shift the extent and the incidence of violence against women down is to bring about a change of consciousness in the importance of these issues among the male population.

"The Women's Resource Centre -- if it wishes to address the issues of perception around a variety of these issues -- has its work cut out.'' But he added: "I would suggest a large part of this work should focus on the attitudes of men.

"That will involve the stereotypes which exist....the images which need to be addressed to deal with assumptions which are taken for granted in the community.'' Of the 279 people spoken to, 57.7 percent were women and 42.3 percent were male, across a wide age spectrum.

The racial split was 50 percent black, 47.9 percent white -- a disproportionate number of whites compared to the Island's racial breakdown -- and 1.5 percent Asian.