Women now comprise the majority of the U.S. Internet population. eMarketer estimates there will be 97.2 million female Internet users ages 3 and older in 2007 and will account for 51.7 percent of the total online population.
By 2011, 109.7 million U.S. females will be online, accounting for 51.9 percent of the total online population.
Women Have The Numbers Online
Other research estimates are in agreement that females represent the majority of U.S. Internet users, ranging from 53 percent (Arbitron and Edison Media Research, for Internet users ages 12 and above) down to 50.6 percent (comScore Media Metrix, for Internet users ages 2 and older).
The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future found that in 2006 the percentage of females who went online had surpassed the number of males for the first time in six years of conducting the survey. They reported that 78.4 percent of the female population ages 12 and older go online compared to 76.7 percent of males.
Females currently comprise the majority of Internet users and more of the female population goes online. This year a projected 66.2 percent of U.S. female’s ages 3 and older will use the Internet once a month or more, compared to 64.2 percent of males. In 2011, 72.1 percent of females will go online compared to 69.3 percent of males.
Males still maintain a higher percentage of the adult population that goes online. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that as of February- April 2006, 71 percent of adult females went online, compared to 74 percent of adult 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,” says Ms. Williamson, “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.”
