Commentary

Surfing A Professional Men's Sport (at work)

Surfing A Professional Men's Sport (at work)

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that in January 2002, nearly half of all male Web surfers, or 12.2 million men, were employed in professional, executive or managerial roles, versus just one third of all female surfers at-work, or 5.5 million. Dawn McCaffrey Brozek, senior Internet analyst, NetRatings, said "Socio-cultural factors contribute to the gendered division of labor at work, with women clustered in clerical or administrative fields, while men dominate professional, executive or managerial positions."

During this period, a disproportionate share of clerical or administrative workers who were online were women, accounting for 27 percent of all female Web surfers at-work. By comparison, just 3.5 percent of all male surfers occupied clerical or administrative positions.

Occupation of Web Surfers According to Gender, Percent (U.S., Work)

Occupation%FemaleAudience(000)% MalesAudience(000)
Professional19.5%3,22524.8%6,059
Executive or Managerial13.5%2,22825.0%6,123
Clerical or Administrative27.2%4,4993.5%862
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, January 2002

Although females account for 51% of the at-home online population, they still trail behind their male counterparts at work with a 40/60 split. Additionally, Web usage by females at work lags behind usage by males in every metric, with men using the Internet more aggressively. Female office workers initiated 11% fewer surfing sessions in January, spent 18% less time online and viewed 13% fewer Web pages as compared to male surfers.

"Even though both men and women have computer and Internet access at work, women trail in their use of Internet technology in the workplace and a digital divide between men and women still exists," concludes Brozek

Internet Usage: Males versus Females (U.S., Work)

MalesFemalesU.S.
Average Sessions per Month524750
Average Time Spent (hh:mm)29:4125:0927:51
Pages Viewed 1,8941,6771,806

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, January 2002

Find out more in this pdf report.

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