CYBERSPACE — When it comes to internet ambitions, women may actually be creating their own silicone ceiling. That’s the conclusion drawn from a New Jersey research project, published today in the journal Social Science Quarterly that found that women consistently underestimate their understanding of the internet and associated technology.Not unsurprisingly, men are just as likely to overestimate their prowess.

The truth is that men and women are about equal.

The researchers found that there were a number of factors that determined whether a person was or was not web-savvy – but gender was not one of them. Instead, things like age, education, and experience were.

“Not a single woman among all of our female study subjects called herself an ‘expert’ user,” sociologist and team member Eszter Hargittai of Northwestern University observes,” while not a single man ranked himself as a complete novice or ‘not at all skilled.”

The 100 unemployed, white-, and –blue collar study subjects ranged in age from 18 to 81 were asked to locate websites and online information ranging from the 2000 presidential candidate’s stances on abortion to the location of a certain museum’s web site. Two studies were conducted; one in 2001 and the second a year later. Hargittai followed up with the subjects this spring and found the results consistent with those from earlier.

Similar to the way women underestimate their skills with science or math, “the lower perceptions women hold about their abilities often don’t translate into actual competence disparities,” Hargittai points out.

Hargittai worries that this may translate into women self-limiting their access to valuable online materials and information. Studies have shown that woman are accessing the internet at about the same rate as men, but doing so for different reason, preferring more colorful and engaging sites.