Asian women speed forward on Net highway

By CNN's Kristie Lu Stout

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Women now represent more than half of North America's Internet surfers, with their Asian sisters not far behind.

A survey by Nielsen/NetRatings reveals that in the U.S., women now make up 52 percent of the total at-home Web population.

But the Asia-Pacific region is catching up, with the number of female surfers increasing by an average 36 per cent across the region since January.

Fussier breed of surfer

"Globally we have found that women are a fussier breed of surfer than their male counterparts," Hoe Chin Fee, South Asia managing director of ACNielsen eRatings.com, said in a statement.

"Women are much more efficient in their Web usage -- they spend less time online as they generally know what they're looking for and leave once they achieve their goal."

Australian women are winning the Web race for their gender in the region, according to the industry ratings agency.

In Australia, women account for 48 percent of the Internet population, followed by New Zealand (46 percent), South Korea (45 percent), Hong Kong (44 percent), Singapore (42 percent) and Taiwan (41 percent).

Asia-Pacific women spent an average 12 hours surfing the Internet in May, compared with 14.5 hours for men.

Women also spend more time online during the day, while men's surfing times peak in the evening, the report added.

More than half of the region's female users are active online between 4pm and 10pm, while men's peak time is usually between 8pm and 10pm.