Women: the new nerds?
12-02-2007
by Maxim Kelly

Men might claim superiority in the car parking stakes, but Irish women have fought back in terms of technology skills.

A recent TNS mrbi survey commissioned by mobile operator O2 has opened a new front in the battle of the sexes. It found a decent slice of businesswomen -- 22 percent -- judge their own PC skills to be "excellent", whereas only 14 percent of their male counterparts could say the same.

Only 13 percent of female chief executives complain that technology is too complex or confusuing, while one-in-four of their male colleagues admitted bafflement with everyday IT.

Of the 300 Irish senior executives questioned by researchers, only 10 percent of women described their technology skillset as "poor", significantly lower than the 24 percent of men who admitted they hadn't a clue.

O2's head of business sales Bill D'Arcy said the survey confirmed that Irish women saw technology in a positive light in terms of making their lives easier and keeping up to date with the latest developments and news. For the record it's worth noting that D'Arcy's boss is a businesswoman: O2 Ireland chief executive Danuta Gray.

"When it comes to what services Irish businesswomen want on their mobile phones, their needs are pretty similar to men," said D'Arcy. "Topping the list is e-mail, which is desired by about half (49 percent) of women. This is followed by news, which is desired by 34 percent of women."

Access to traffic updates, weather information and stock market prices are other popular features amongst female business mobile users.

One thing D'Arcy didn't mention was Irish women's interest in shopping -- particularly the online kind. A separate study released last month by researchers at Dublin City University found that 70 percent of users of an Irish e-commerce service were women aged between 30 and 50. Researchers said this figure was "quite unusual" when compared to experience in Britain and the US.

A thoroughly unscientific straw poll carried out by ENN found that this statistical quirk may be because women are more likely to search for a bargain, and will spend time online finding the best deal.

Irish men, on the other hand, are more likely to approach e-commerce as they do low-tech high street shopping: run in, grab the goods, pay extortionate prices, escape, realise the clothes/food/gadgets don't fit/fry/work, and promise never to return.