It's a case of WWWomen being in the driving seat on the information highway.

Female proficiency in the use of the World Wide Web suggests that they will overtake males as the largest group of Internet users over the next five years.

Research from direct bank First Direct shows that women are the fastest-growing group of new net users, equalling men in the race to go online.

Half the population which owns a PC at home is female and women now represent about half of all UK people who havegone online but expect a 10 per cent surge of new female surfers by 2005 to 60 per cent. So the proportion of internet users who are male will be around 40 per cent.

By 2010 two thirds of on-line shopping will be undertaken by women, predicts the Future Foundation which conducted the independent research..

All of which suggests that women are set to predominate on the internet.

First Direct's own PC customer base supports these findings. An equal number of men and women use its PC banking service first launched in 1997.

According to the study women are not only mastering the Internet and PC usage, they are embracing technology as a whole.

Nearly 45 per cent of UK women own two or more televisions at home, 31 per cent own a mobile phone and 44 per cent have the choice of one or two home telephones.

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