Number of women online crosses 12-million mark: IAMI

Mumbai: A new report from the Internet & Mobile Association of India takes a comprehensive look at what women do online. Both Indian men and women value the internet for its efficiency and its strength as a gateway to inexhaustible reserve of information and experiences, and thus have their own interests and reasons to use the World Wide Web.

Since 2004-05, the percentage of online users has increased by 54 per cent to 38.5 million users — male online users increased in absolute numbers but dipped from 72 per cent (2004-05) to 68 per cent (2005-06) while the number of women going online increased from 28 per cent in 2004-05 to 32 per cent in 2005-06 (12.32 million).

The estimate for the male-female ratio in the next two years are expected to be in the ratio of 60:40 but will still result in the absolute numbers of men being higher then women, reveals a survey released by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMI) conducted in collaboration with market research firm Crosstab Marketing Services. The survey covered 6,365 respondents in December 2005. The research was undertaken to ascertain the online gender parity to understand the female online demographics and their preferred online activities to afford marketers a better perspective while designing their marketing and promotional programmes to cater to a defined online target audience.

According to Preeti desai, president, IAMI, "It''s critical to understand different online activities of women as internet users to understand their personal and work-related browsing habits. The report reveals that

• 57 per cent of women log in from home
  
• 46 per cent of women are unmarried followed by 38 per cent married women with children
  
• 78 per cent have been using internet since the last three years and tend to window shop online and are cautious online shoppers.

The online population is well poised to grow to 100 million from the current 38.5 million users and the percentage of women is likely to increase to 40 per cent in the next two years. The findings of this research will help marketers to build their online infrastructure including online sales and communication channel as women like to discuss and share their experiences with a greater emphasis on deepening connections with people."

Some highlights of the survey:

Age profile of women internet users:

• 33 per cent of women are in 18-25 age group
  
• 39 per cent in the 26-35 age group
  
• 21 per cent in the 36-45 age group
  
• 6 per cent in the 46-60 age group and
  
• Only 1 per cent in the 61+ years group.

With India''s Internet population poised to reach 100 million by 2007-08 the online male female ratio is estimated to change to 60:40 by 2007-08 from the current 68:32.

Marital status of women internet users:

• 46 per cent are Unmarried
  
• 13 per cent are married without children
  
• 38 per cent are married with children
  
• 4 per cent are divorced / separated

Regional representation of women internet users:

• 27 per cent of the Indian women who access the internet are from Maharashtra, with 18 per cent being from Mumbai
  
• 15 per cent from Delhi
  
• 11 per cent from Tamil Nadu, with6 per cent from Chennai
  
• 10 per cent from Karnataka, with 5 per cent from Bangalore
  
• 6 per cent from West Bengal, with 4 per cent being from Kolkata
  
• Other cities & towns contribute 51 per cent of the women base

Educational qualifications of women internet users:

• 2 per cent have studied up to up to SSC / HSC
  
• 13 per cent have diplomas but are not graduates
  
• 53 per cent have a general graduate / post-graduate degree (BA, BSc. MSc, B Com, etc)
  
• 25 per cent have a professional graduate / post graduate degree, revealing a well educated female audience online with an assured spending power.

Occupation of women internet users:

• 13 per cent are students
  
• 6 per cent have clerical jobs or are salespersons
  
• 6 per cent are officer or have supervisory jobs
  
• 14 per cent are junior executive
  
• 15 per cent are mid-level executives
  
• 10 per cent are senior executives
  
• 10 per cent are self employed / professional
  
• 8 per cent are housewives
  
• 1 per cent are retired

Credit card usage of women internet users:

• 73 per cent of women own an ATM Card
  
• 36 per cent own a credit card
  
• 41 per cent own a debit card
  
• 14 per cent of women use their credit cards online
  
• 10 per cent of women use their debit cards online
  
• 8 per cent of women use both credit and debit cards

Internet access by women internet users:

• 57 per cent of women access the net from home
  
• 54 per cent of women access the net from their office
  
• 31 per cent of women access the internet from cyber cafes
  
• 3 per cent of women access the net from a friends place
  
• 4 per cent of women access the Internet from Mobiles

Duraqtiion of ninternet usage by women:

• 34 per cent of women have been using the internet for more than 6 years
  
• 44 per cent women have been using the internet for between 3 and 5 years
  
• 14 per cent women have been using the internet for between 1 and 2 years
  
• 5 per cent women have been using the internet for 6 to 11 months
  
• 2 per cent of women have been using the internet for less than 6 months

Time spent by women online:

• 24 per cent of women use the internet for more than 21 hours a week
  
• 17 per cent women use the internet for 11-20 hours a week
  
• 29 per cent women use the internet for 5-10 hours a week
  
• 21 per cent women use the internet for up to 5 hours a week.

Online activities of women internet users:

• Email: 96 per cent of women use the Internet for emailing for personal use and 92 per cent for work. Increasing communications related activities especially for personal use would over a period of time make Internet extremely integral in a user''s day to day life
  
• Chatting: 44 per cent of women use the internet for chatting and the activity is reduced to almost half where only 26 per cent chat regarding work related purposes
  
• Surfing: 63 per cent of women use the Internet for surfing for personal purposes and 50 per cent surf the internet for work related issues
  
• Search: 65 per cent of women use search engine for personal requisites and 66 per cent use the search engines to find work related information
  
• Research: 29 per cent of women use the internet for personal research and 37 per cent use the Internet for work related research
  
• News online: 51 per cent of women look up news online as a personal activity whereas 38 per cent look up news for their professional requirements
  
• News on mobile: 10 per cent read news on their mobile as a personal activity and 7 per cent read news on mobile related to work
  
• Matrimonial purposes: 15 per cent of women use the internet for matrimonial purposes — only 3 per cent higher than men — as the medium offers privacy, confidentiality and the convenience of meeting people whilst being able to be selective
  
• Jobs: 55 per cent of women use the internet to search for jobs. This is 5 per cent higher than men who use the net for job searches
  
• Astrology: 36 per cent of women use the internet for astrological predictions while 22 per cent men use the internet for the same.
  
• Religious, spiritual information: 17 per cent of women use the internet for spiritual information compared with 15 per cent of men who use the Internet for the same.
  
• Financial transactions online: Women internet users in India are cautious about their online transactions as clearly indicated by the following statistics:
  1. Online Auctions: 11 per cent women use the internet to participate in an online auctions
     
  2. Online stock trading: 9 per cent of women use of the internet for online stock trading.
     
  3. Online bill payments: 12 per cent of women use the internet for online bill payments
     
  4. Online banking: 24 per cent of women the internet for online banking
     
  5. Online shopping: 22 per cent of women use the Internet for online shopping
     
  6. Online donations or charity: 4 per cent of women donate online