Challenging society through the information grid: Japanese women’s activism on the Net

The Internet is becoming more and more a part of daily life in Japan: currently 37.1 per cent of all Japanese, that is 47.1 million individuals, use it.1 Moreover, the number of female users has increased drastically: from 1997 to 2001, the percentage of women online increased from 16.5 to 44.5 per cent of all users.2