How Women and Men Use the Internet

According to Deborah Fallows, senior research fellow at PEW Internet & American Life, women in the United States have caught up to men in terms of Internet usage. Specifically, she refers in the conclusion of her report, "How Women and Men Use the Internet," to shifting demographics in which "younger women and black women outpace their male peers." Older women, however, "lag dramatically."

In the early days of the digital age, men--especially young, white, educated and fairly affluent men--were the leaders of Internet. And not unlike the tendencies examined in John Gray's Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, there was a male-centered gender stereotype.

But since 2000, the Internet user population has been evenly divided between men and women, and as Fallows points out in her report, Internet usage trends seem to fall in line with Gray's analogy: Men and women behave quite differently.

PEW Internet Project surveys between January and June in 2005 show that 67 percent of the adult American population goes online, including 68 percent of men and 66 percent of women. The female Internet population outnumbers that of the men, however, because women make up a greater share of the overall U.S. population.

The group's surveys revealed a number of interesting trends:

On a typical day, wired men are more likely than wired women (61 percent vs. 57 percent) to go online.
Men go online more frequently than women. Forty-four percent of men go online at least several times a day, compared with 39 percent of women.
Men (52 percent) are more likely than women (48 percent) to have high-speed connections at home.
Men and women are virtually equally likely to access the Internet from home. Eighty-nine percent of men do so compared to 87 percent of women.
Men and women are equally likely to access the Internet from work. Among Internet users who work full time or part time, 65 percent of men and 66 percent of women use the Internet at the office.

Delving Deeper

More men than women buy online, and men pursue and consume information online more aggressively than women. The creatures from Mars are more interested in technology than the women, and they are also more tech savvy. Men value the Internet for the breadth of experience it offers; the creatures of Venus value the Internet more for enriching their relationships, but they're more concerned about its risks.

Men have traditionally been more likely than women to get news from the Internet. They also are more likely to get information on sports, financials and weather.

Women are significantly more likely to send and receive e-mail, to search for maps and directions and to get religious or spiritual information. Females have gone online at faster rates to close the gap with men in getting information on government and in watching audio and video clips, and they have narrowed the gaps with men in seeking general news and in researching products and services. Women are also more concerned than men about general criminal use of the Internet.

Broadband users log on more frequently, and men more than women.

Men participate in more kinds of online entertainment than women. Just over two-thirds of users think the Internet is a good place to pursue entertainment or personal enjoyment, including significantly more men, 72 percent, than women, 66 percent.

A small but equal number of men and women said they have gone online to play the lottery or gamble.

For the complete report, visit: www.pewinternet.org.