Women as likely as men to surf web
American men who go online are more likely than women to check the weather, the news, sports, and political and financial information, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said on Wednesday.
They are more likely to use the internet to download music and software and to take a class.
Women are bigger users of e-mail, and they are more likely to go online for religious information and support for health or personal problems.
“For men, it’s just, ‘Give me the facts’,” said Deborah Fallows, who wrote the report based on six years of Pew surveys. “For women, it’s ‘Let’s talk about this. Are you worried about this problem?’ It’s keeping in touch and connecting with people in a richer way.”
About two-thirds of the 6403 adults surveyed by Pew this year used the internet. By gender, it was 68% of the male respondents and 66% of the female participants, a statistically insignificant difference given the study’s margin of sampling error of plus or minus two percentage points.
In 2002, by contrast, the gap was slightly larger: 61% versus 57%.
The surveys find that for many activities, such as getting travel information or looking up a phone number, men and women are equally likely to use the internet.
Barry Wellman, a University of Toronto sociology professor, was struck by similarities and affirmation that the internet is so integrated into lives of men and women “they aren’t even thinking they’re going on the internet anymore”.
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