Women have topped men on the Web for the first time.

In May, 50.4 per cent of all unique users in the US were female, according to a survey by MMXI. They found the most popular sites for women in the US were shopping and beauty sites, such as chadwicks.com and anti-wrinkle.com.

In Europe the proportion of women users is also rising, though only home Internet use was measured in the research. The most popular sites were retail, careers and travel.

In the UK in June, 36 per cent of Web users were women, up slightly on January's 35 per cent. British females favoured Tescodirect.com, Tescodirect.co.uk, egreetings.com and handbag.com.

Germany saw female use grow from 28 per cent to 32 per cent and Sweden stayed steady at 44 per cent. France saw figures rise from 31 per cent to 33 per cent, with the most popular women's sites Redoute.fr, women's portal aufeminin.com and travel site Ebookers.com.

"Women using the Internet tend to be focussed on practicality," said Arielle Dinard, MMXI Europe MD. "They don't waste much time on a variety of different sites but return to those which save them time or money.

"The Internet is the ideal medium to distribute information about bargains and tips and tricks that can be posted immediately and made visible to all. Women understand this and increasingly use the Internet to make everyday life easier," he said. ®

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• The figures are not a completely true comparison - US figures were for females aged two and older, whereas European figures were based on 14 and over (with the exception of Sweden - 12 and over).
  

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