The gender gap in website ownership is closing as the number of women registering domain names has risen by 9 per cent, according to a study released this week.

Domain registrar 123-reg polled 7,000 of its customers and found that over 27 per cent of its customers are women showing an increase in the figures since 2012.

The study also found that the number of customers over the age of 50 outweighs the number of under-30s that currently own domain names.
CEO of 123-reg’s parent company, Host Europe Group, Thomas Vollrath said that the figures spell a positive development for the internet, which he feels should be a medium open to all sections of society.

“Business and technology have historically been perceived as being incredibly male-dominated, but this is now changing. The fact that more women are now turning to business, and the news that 40 per cent of the government’s Start-up Loans scheme has gone to female entrepreneurs is further encouragement.

“Fundamentally, this is less of a technology issue and more of a business issue. A high proportion of our customers use of our services to establish new businesses and develop existing ones, so it would be a fair conclusion to make that more women are doing just that, a trend that we hope to see continue.”