How Gender Is Distributed Online

We would like to think the Internet is a utopia of fairness and opportunity but the reality is, some members of society miss out more than others.

A surprising statistic has been revealed recently – there are 200 million fewer women online globally. This disparity is considerably worse in developing countries where female literacy rates are poor. Nearly 25% of women in developing countries are less likely than men to use the Internet. Even in the developed world, there are still more men who use the Internet than women (80% men – 74% women).

Although more men are online, PEW research has proven 8% more women use social media. Mass media researcher Johanna Blakley gave an insightful TED talk and revealed that women outnumber men on social media in EVERY age category. It gets even more interesting when you look at how dominant women are on particular social media sites. There’s only really one social media platform where men are the overwhelming majority.

How do you think the gender bias on social media sites should affect the way businesses and marketers reach their audience?