Women Catching Up With Men Online

Older women were found to be lagging in internet presence, with just 21% of those aged 65+ going online, compared to 34% of men.

A recent study from Burst! Media shows that older internet users are using the web more heavily than this time a year ago, with 61% of users aged 55 and over having increased their online presence (see Older Users Move Online).

The Pew Internet and American Life Project report also claims that men and women used the internet for different reasons, stating: “Men like the internet for the experience that it offers, while women like it for the human connections it provides.”

Men were found to be slightly more engaged with the internet than women are in their usage, with, on a typical day, wired men more likely to go online than wired women.

In addition, men tend to go online more frequently than women, 44% shown to go online at least several times a day compared to 39% of women. Men were also found to be more likely than women to have high-speed connections at home, with 52% compared to 48% of women.

Turning to accessing the internet at home, 89% of men go online at home, compared to 87% of women. This behaviour is reversed in the work place, with 65% of men using the internet and 66% of women.

In terms of what the sexes use the internet for, the study reveals that men are greater consumers of online information than women, with women outpacing men when it comes to communication.

The study states: “More women than men send and receive email, and they use it in a richer and more engaging way. Women are more likely than men to use email to write to friends and family about a variety of topics, from sharing news and worries to planning events to forward jokes and funny stories.”

The trends in the Pew study are confirmed in an earlier report from Forrester Research, which claimed that during one week, men typically spend an average of seven hours more with media than women do (see Men Consume More Media Than Women).

Men are shown to spend 10.2 hours a week on a PC, compared with 8.5 hours for women, with males going online for 6.7 hours and women at only 5.3 hours.

According to Forrester, once they get online, men use the internet to look for news and finance, job and career information. Women spend the majority of their online hours looking for bargains, downloading coupons, sharing photos, looking for movie information and using online phone directories.