Women comprised 39.8 percent of home Internet users in China's four main cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen) during March 2001, according to Internet measurement company Netvalue's report released Wednesday.

From November 2000 to March 2001, the proportion of female home Internet users in China increased by 6.7 percent.

The report examined women's online behavior in comparison with men.

Women users prefer to visit community, medical/ health and 'everday life' sites. Some 31.4 percent of women used instant messaging protocols while compared to just 18.9 percent of men, and 6.1 percent used chat versus 2.7 percent of men.

Among all Internet users, 59.2 percent of female users and 58 percent of male users earn between 1200 and 5500 yuan/month (US$145-664).

Female Internet users are also more likely to be found at online shopping malls. Popular shopping sites for female Internet users during March were 8848.net.cn and 800buy.com.cn. Women displayed 25.5 percent more pages than men and spent 18.4 percent longer at these sites.

In addition, the percentage of male and female users visiting e-commerce sites was roughly the same (59.3 percent of women and 58 percent of men). Of these visitors, female were 15.8 percent more likely to enter into a secure connection.

(China Daily 06/01/2001)