Market research firm eMarketer estimates there are currently about 97.2 million female internet users, making up 51.7 per cent of the online population. About 90.9 million men are active online in the US – 48.3 per cent of the internet population.
By 2011, the eMarketer projects 109.7 million US females will be active online, amounting to a steading 51.9 per cent of the total.
The company says internet usage by females has probably surpassed that of males for some time, and points to other research that have also concluded there are more women online than men (Edison Media Research, comScore Media Metrix.
The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School Centre for the Digital Future reported in 2006 that for first time in the six years the school had measured internet usage, females had surpassed males.
It found 78.4 per cent of females aged 12 or above go online, compared to 76.7 per cent of males – while female usage since 2000 had jumped 12.4 per cent, compared to just 3.2 per cent for blokes.
eMarketer warned that researchers that only measure the adult population were still finding that a greater percentage of men go online than women. But the overwhelming trend among younger girls, having grown up with the internet, is to feel as at home online as the young males.
eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson thinks that current trends will shape future internet demographics and usage.
“For girls who have grown up with technology there is no significant gender gap in internet usage, and the rise of activities that are particularly appealing to young females, such as social networking, will result in even greater usage,” Ms Williamson said.
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