Revisting the Gender Gap: Further Data Analysis of the Gendered Digital Divide in Canada (Top Paper).

This paper is in response to calls for individually based, time-series analyses of Internet usage data in Canada. Drawing from the 1997-2001 Household Internet Use Surveys (HIUS) and the 2000 General Social Survey, previous research (by this author) has demonstrated that the HIUS can in fact be disaggregated, after which, they reveal a statistically significant gender gap in Canada. Cross-tab analysis has showed that the access gap between men and women grew between 1997 and 2002, and logistic regression analyses revealed that men were more than 50% more likely than women to access the Internet from home on a daily basis. This paper represents a continuation and expansion of the previous research, and will use the recently released 2002 and 2003 HIUS data to create a seven-year long time-series analysis of Internet usage in Canada, comparing men and women with location and frequency of access. Furthermore, it will create an individually based examination of online Information seeking practices of Canadian men and women. Finally, the paper will include a critique of the HIUS survey design and corresponding reports, and suggest that they have been ultimately inadequate for accurately determining how Canadian women have been using the Internet, in particular with respect to measurement beyond mere "access". ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]