The presentation, titled 'Online Demographics and Online Use Habit of Indian Women: An Overview', attempts to bring Indian women netizens in limelight. It is presumed and apprehended, commonly, that the men have a monopoly over access to Internet in India. However, the research findings reveal that the women using Internet, in particular and technology in general, are increasing exponentially. On the other hand, the Indian women are considerably making their identity felt in as software professionals, content writers, transcriptions, online instructors, editors, information scientists etc. are women professional these days. It also traces the detailed findings of the research reports undertaken so far to understand Indian women Internet users and their use habits.
3. Highlights:
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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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4. 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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5.
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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6. 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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7. 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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9.
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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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10. 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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12. 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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13.
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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 ecentre open till 11 p.m. for giving classes to auto
rickshaw drivers returning from work.
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14. 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 via
video-conferencing technology to an eyespecialist thousands of miles away.
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15. 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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16. 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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17. 1. IMRB research findings:
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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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18.
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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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19. 2. IMAI research findings:
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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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20.
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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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21.
Financial transactions online: Women
Internet users in India are ‘cautious’ about
their online transactions.
–
–
–
–
–
–
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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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22. Regional Representation of Women Internet
Users:
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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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23. 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).
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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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24. Gender Issues and Barriers to Online
Participation:
women online statistics are problematic to determinesuch 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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25. Action to create women Internet Users:
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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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27. References
1. Amarani, Shalini (2006) Woman, Internet is your handy employment exchange.
[http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/financialplanning/transcriptiononlinemedia/womanInternetisyourhandyem
ploymentexchange/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.domainb.com/ebusiness/general/20060208_online.html] accessed on 03-01-2008
4. Varma, Sarita. Indian Express (http://www.expressitpeople.com/20040913/management4.shtml] accessed on 04-012008
5. 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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28. 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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