Sex segregation in the maritime industry Why are there so few women?

Sammanfattning: This study examines why there are fewer women than men in the maritime industry, howstudents perceive their education and if it is possible to obtain a typical personality profile ofthe students. Data was collected using semi- structured interviews and personalityassessment based on the five-factor model. The participants consisted of female students atChalmers University of Technology. The interview material was analyzed by means ofthematic analysis where 5 main themes with 13 under themes emerged. The result showsthat the lower representation of women at sea may be due to several factors such as lack ofknowledge about the profession in general, worse reputation as a workplace, and thecomplexity of combining family life with a life at sea. Somewhat surprising was the emergenceof the perceived lack of response from the school to complaints or reports of harassmentfrom the ship-related internships. Something that should be investigated further.No conclusion could be drawn from the personality assessment due to a low response rate.