Opera’s previous State of the Mobile Web Report showed that the use of mobile phones to access the web is exploding on the African continent. Now their latest report indicates that the number of women on the mobile web has risen by 575%, with South Africa leading the charge towards gender equality. 

 

South Africa comes in first when it comes to the most female users (43.5%) using Opera's mobile Mini browser. We are followed by the US (35.6%), Russia (32.4%) and the UK (31.5%). The local number of female users is up by almost 19% from the last time Opera Mini users were surveyed (24.7%).

 

Using data from the top 10 countries with the most number of Opera Mini users, Opera also estimates that the global male-to-female ratio of mobile web users is 77% (male) to 23% (female), up from two years ago when it was 88% (male) to 12% (female).

 

The growth rate of female users on the mobile web is increasing at a faster rate than their male counterparts, as the rate of male users has increased by an estimated 233% between May 2008 and July 2010, whilst the number of female users increased by 575%.

  

“We believe access to the Web is a universal right and the mobile Web is all about breaking down barriers to access,” said Jon von Tetzchner, co-founder, Opera Software. “Seeing more women on the mobile Web is important to ensuring the mobile Web remains the rich tapestry of ideas it is. Further diversity can only improve things for everyone.”

 

On the other side of the coin, the countries with the least amount of female users are India (4.0%), Nigeria (5.4%), China (11.6%) and Vietnam (17.9%).