Women under the age of 24 outnumber men of the same age in the UK internet population, according to a report published yesterday by Fletcher Research Ltd, but there are still more males online than females. The UK Internet User Monitor, which surveys 40,000 UK net users, found that 61% of online teenagers under the age of 18 were female, while in the 18 to 24 bracket the figure dropped to 53%. The biggest differences in usage came in the 55 and over age group, where men accounted for 81% of internet users. As a rule, female use of the internet gets lower as the sampling gets older.
Fletcher draws from these figures that women, particularly young girls, spend more time chatting with friends online, with 57% of girls using chat rooms compared to 44% of boys. Boys, it seems, are more likely to surf and download than communicate. Fletcher concludes that young women are under-served by UK web offerings, and women’s magazines should make more of an effort to develop online content.
