Posted: 24th Jun, 2003 By: MarkJ
The latest research from Nielsen//NetRatings shows that, despite an increase in female Internet users, fewer women surf the Internet than men. It's worth noting that the population of online ladies is highest in the UK and Sweden:
In May 2003, 42% of European surfers, or 35m people, were women, up very slightly from 41% last year. The speed of growth is so slow that by current rates of demographic change it will be 2010 before there is gender parity on among European internet users. In America, by contrast, 51% of surfers are female.
Getting more women online matters, according to Nielsen//NetRatings European Market Analyst Tom Ewing, because there is still the perception of the internet as a very male-dominated place. That needs to change in order for a greater range of sites to win a large female audience. Changes are taking place but its a very slow process in some markets.
The proportion of female internet users varies greatly across Europe, however. Sweden and the UK have the highest percentage of women surfers at over 45%, but women still account for only around 37.5% of Italys online population, and this figure has actually decreased since May 2002.More @
Europemedia.