Given the fact that most things under the sun have found themselves up for grabs in a market where women are a huge target audience, the Internet couldn't stay behind for very long.

And it hasn't. They came, by the truckload, HTML pages in tow. For the woman of substance. For the woman who knows her own mind. For the woman who doesn't have to try too hard. For the woman who gets what she wants.

But who are these women? More importantly, does the concept of having portals for Indian women hold any weight at all?

Shilpa S, a chartered accountant, doesn't visit portals for women. She hasn't heard of too many to begin with, and prefers looking up information related to her profession rather than find out what an agony aunt somewhere has to say about teen romance. Then there's Nimisha, who logs on simply to play a few games. Doesn't she want to know about the latest hairdos or how to make palak paneer?

"Thanks, but no thanks", she replies.

Here's a surprising fact: not all who patronise women's magazines or sites really identify with them. This includes those who make it a point to check these sites, like Shabnam Minwalla, a columnist at the Times of India.

Minwalla generally looks for interesting foreign sites offering news related features. She remembers some portals like Womannova, but says she couldn't really find anything that matched her interests: "They speak a different language."

It is a fairly established fact that there are gender differences in Web use; differences that could have played a major role in defining content for these portals, who tried to capitalise on them. The tragedy is, many failed because they didn't know how.

Red for Women caters only to career women and entrepreneurs. Unlike other sites, it seems to have hit upon the fact that women can also have special business interests. Then there are sites solely for mothers and moms-to-be, like Indian moms and two daughters, a site for parents with daughters (two daughters, to be precise).

On the other side of the spectrum are more 'general-interest' sites that, at first glance, seem to be imitations of each other -- Indian women online, Sitagita, Soul kurry, etc. They all share the same kind of sections, on entertainment, health, beauty, relationships, home, and pregnancy, with a few innovative ideas like 'culture and tradition', and 'wedding belles' thrown in for good measure.

What you get, therefore, are sites attempting to be 'all-things-to-all-women' and failing, in the process, to create identities of their own. The content is all encompassing, catering to first time mothers, business school graduates, home entrepreneurs and wannabe cooks - all at the same time. Is this a bad thing? Of course not. Portals were meant to cater to the planet. Then why aren't they doing as well as they ought to?

A spokesperson at one of India's more popular women's portals believes that, contrary to popular belief, most of these sites are registering an increase in popularity. As for the ones who have shut shop, she blames their failure on "no money or poor content".

What astounds her (and me, too) is that there are an increasing number of men surfing women's portals, probably trying to figure out what women want!

Mridula Murgai, director, Indian women online, says, "Women are logging on in much larger numbers, and will demand a special place for themselves when they get more Internet-savvy. The present downturn should become an opportunity for us to re-evaluate and review our positioning."

Maybe it's just a matter of time, then. Maybe Indian women aren't quite ready for personalised portals just yet. Or maybe they're waiting for sites that go beyond boundaries of gender.

It all boils down to this little detail: women can no longer be thought of as just another target audience. To reach their market, Web sites will have to delve deep into interests, personal identities, and affinities. If that's not the answer either, maybe we'll just have to wait and watch out for one.

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