Online Demographics and Online Use Habit of Indian Women: An Overview

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by..

Santosh C. HulagabaliLibrarian, Nagindas Khandwala College, Mumbai &Pratibha KanojiaLibrary Assistant, Sardar Patel Engineering College, Mumbai

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Highlights:

Introduction Internet and Women Global Scenario Indian Scenario: Innovative Initiatives by Women Women Online Demographics and Use Habit Gender Issues and Barriers to Online Participation Getting women to participate on the Internet

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Introduction

The paper attempts to bring the status of Indian women netizens in limelight.

An accepted fact=“Men have a monopoly over access to Internet in India”. True, BUT..the research findings reveal that the women using Internet, in particular and technology in general, are increasing exponentially.

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Women are taking an active role in Internet culture are true spinsters.

They not only have a presence and a voice, they are spinning new ideas and thoughts through their web pages, making connections with other women and organizations ( through discussion forums, Blogs, Web pages)

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Why women are attracted to Internet?

Education, Technological Literacy, Natural Awareness are the factors to use Internet.

i. Communication: (via e-mail, blogs, websites, info. Sharing)ii. Accessibility: Internet permits and facilitates access

to more diverse perspectives and beliefs than is presently available in other media. (two way communication; need based..)

iii. Safety: Writing out thoughts/arguments and posting them to a discussion forum may be less threatening than speaking out to a public audience.

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Cont..

iv. Anonymity: Some women feel safer participating using mediated communication due to the perception of anonymity and distance.

v. Women intimidated by public speaking may feel more comfortable speaking on-line.

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Global Scenario:

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FACT: “women of developed countries are far

ahead with the Internet use than the underdeveloped and developing countries”.

Healthy sign: in case of developed and developing countries, use of technology is growing incessantly.

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Ex.: U.S.A.

66% of women netizens watch videos online compared with 78% of online men (12%

difference). By 2011, the number of women and men will

be of 85% and 88.8% respectively. (2-3% difference)

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Indian Scenario:

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First Case:“Muthu Fatima, mother of eight, is drawing an Alladin lamp e-greeting card for her husband in Saudi Arabia. Twenty years after dropping out of high school, she is clicking on the mouse at an Akshaya Community Internet kiosk in Malappuram district (Kerala)”.

-The Indian Express, Kerala Edition

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About 560 e-centres dot the hills, with 4,000 PCs and scanners. Malappuram lays claim to being the world’s first rural district to achieve 100 % household e-literacy (one computer-literate person per family).

Now, having got a taste of cyberspace profits, a woman entrepreneur confessed to keeping her e-centre open till 11 p.m. for giving classes to auto rickshaw drivers returning from work.

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Second Case: BBC World Service's Every Woman

Programme Reports..

There are 1,000 kiosks in the southern state of Tamil Nadu alone.

“..in some places people are not able to get a bus to the next village, the Internet allows them to connect to the world.”

Women over 60, queue up to be linked viavideo-conferencing technology to an eye-specialist thousands of miles away.

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Women Online Demographics and Use Habit:

Demographics: the study/information about lifestyles, habits, population movements, spending, age, social grade, employment, etc

Online Demographics: an application of Internet technology to people’s lifestyles, habits, population movements, spending, age, social grade, employment, etc

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Selected research studies on Indian Women Online Demographics:

By.. 1. Probe Qualitative Research and e-Technology

Group; specialist units of IMRB International 2. Internet Mobile Association of India (IMAI).

IMRB was conducted survey in the top 8 Metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune.

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1. IMRB research findings:

Since 2004-05, the percentage of online users has increased by 54% to 38.5 million users- male online users increased in absolute numbers.

but dipped from 72 % (2004-05) to 68 % (2005-06) while the number of women going online increased from 28 % in 2004-05 to 32 % in 2005-06 (12.32 million).

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Women comprise 1/5 of the total active-Internet user base in India.

Top 8 metros account half of the women Internet Users. 2 out of 3 users among women access Internet at least twice a

week. Home and cyber cafes are the main access points. Every second user among women spends at least 4 hours on

the Internet per week. Communication and education are the top applications on the

Internet. Yahoo and Google are the popular websites among the Internet

users.

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2. IMAI research findings:

Email: 96 % of women use Internet for e-mailing for personal use and 92 % for work related...

Chatting: 44 % of women use for chatting and only 26 % for work related…

Surfing: 63 % of women use personal purposes and 50 % surf for work related...

Search: 65 % of women use search engine for personal requisites and 66 % to find work related information…

News online: 51 % of women look up news online as a personal activity whereas 38 % for work related…

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Matrimonial purposes: 15 % of women use for matrimonial purposes.

Jobs: 55 % of women use to search for jobs. Astrology: 36 % of women use for astrological

predictions while 22 % men use the Internet for the same.

Religious, spiritual information: 17 % of women use for spiritual information compared with 15 % of men who use the Internet for the same.

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Financial transactions online: Women Internet users in India are ‘cautious’ about their online transactions.– Online Auctions: 11 % – Online stock trading: 9 % – Online bill payments: 12 % – Online banking: 24 % – Online shopping: 22 % – Online donations or charity: 4 %

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Regional Representation of Women Internet Users:

27 % of the Indian women who access the Internet are from Maharashtra, with 18 % being from Mumbai

15 % from Delhi 11 % from Tamil Nadu, with 6 % from Chennai 10 % from Karnataka, with 5 % from Bangalore 6 % from West Bengal, with 4 % being from Kolkata Other cities & towns contribute 51 % of the women

base

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Gender Issues and Barriers to Online Participation:

Financial costs: Basic system, Internet Scheme, maintenance

Connectivity: Broadband, geographic hindrances

Access: Women who do have an Internet connection may not have access to all aspects of the Internet (ethics/restrictions @ home and office).

Fear: Women have come to fear of Internet as a site of harassment, rape and pornography through media hype, without ever having experienced the Internet for themselves.

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Gender Issues and Barriers to Online Participation:

women online statistics are problematic to determine-such as..

families sharing one account, anonymous mailing services that remove personal information such as sex, and women assuming male on-line identities in order to avoid harassment.

figures indicates that women are not as quick to become involved with the Internet, but this is changing over time as the Internet becomes more enmeshed in our culture

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Action to create women Internet Users:

Awareness at Education/studies. Policies to favor Internet connection house wives,

neo-literates.. Female mentors to aid other women with technical

knowledge. Cyber law protect the access rights for women. Change our cultural metaphors to include positive

images for women. Show other women that the Internet is useful and

necessary to our real lives. Be active on-line, refuse to play the boy's games and begin creating spaces that reflect women's diversity and perspectives.

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Policy Making: Projects Online Women Empowerment: Education and Training: Awareness: Cultural freedom:

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References

1. Amarani, Shalini (2006) Woman, Internet is your handy employment exchange. [http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/financialplanning/transcriptiononlinemedia/womanInternetisyourhandyemploymentexchange/market/stocks/article/230928] accessed on 08-02-2008.

2. Sharma, Usha (2003). Women Empowerment through Information Technology. Authors Press. P.3. Number of Women Online Crosses 12 million Mark: IAMInews (2006) [http://www.domain-

b.com/ebusiness/general/20060208_online.html] accessed on 03-01-20084. Varma, Sarita. Indian Express (http://www.expressitpeople.com/20040913/management4.shtml] accessed on 04-01-

20085. Swamy, Mridula (2007). A Gender Framework for Analysis of ICTD Projects in India. Paper presented at Gender

Evaluation Methodology-2 Workshop. Organised by The Association for Progressive Communications. July 25-27, 2007 Kuala Lumpur [http://www.itforchange.net/] accessed on 07-02-2008.

6. Parekh, Harsha (2000). Inernet in the Scholarly Communication Process. Knowledgeware.7. Daly, J A. (2003). ICT, Gender Equality, and Empowering Women

[http://www.popline.org/docs/182585] accessed on 07-02-2008.8.[http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/109493102321018150] accessed on 07-02-2008.9. Women Lead Rural India’s Internet Rush [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3871529.stm] accessed on

07-02-2008.10. Brayton, J. (1999). Women's Love/Hate Relationship with the Internet. Zagreb: Centre for Cultural Studies.93-202.11. [http://www.unb.ca/PAR-L/win/essay.htm] accessed on 06-02-2008.12. [http://www.livescience.com/technology /051229_ap_Internet_genders.html] accessed on 06-02-2008.

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THANKS

Disclaimer:

The information and the screenshots used in this presentations are used for educational training , teaching and

research not for any commercial purposes.

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