The myth of an internet dominated by men has been blown apart by a newly-released report.

Women connected to the net more regularly, spent longer online and looked at a greater number of web pages last month than at any other time.

NetValue, the firm behind the study, said women may have flocked to the net to avoid the Euro 2000 championships.

The survey reported more than half a million extra women used the internet in Britain last month and an extra 350,000 went online in France.

A total of 4.4 million British women logged on to the internet at home, making up 43.5 per cent of browsers in the country.

Jannie Cahill, marketing manager for NetValue, said: "The percentage of female users had been constant prior to last month.

"There was a jump across Europe where the football was played but it was stable in the U.S."

There was also a leap of 56 per cent in the number of British women using e-commerce sites, with numbers jumping from 1.5 million in May to 2.3 million in June.

Germany's 3.8 million female internet users now make up 37 per cent of the country's online population.

Crawley-based StreetsOnline was the most popular e-commerce site for men and women alike.

The figures were a boost for women's internet portals such as Handbag.com and Charlotte Street, which have been battling for the attention of female net surfers.

Women-only networking clubs such as Grrls have grown in popularity.

NetValue's figures on the most popular sites in the UK revealed the internet's biggest firms still held tight to their places at the top of the chart.

Microsoft Network, Yahoo and the Microsoft company site held the top three positions.