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From Frances Liardet

So women are better than men at finding food stalls in a market because “in the distant past” women gathered and men hunted (1 September, p 21).

Such is the attraction of the “distant past” that it is used to “explain” almost any gender-related cultural issue in terms of a favourite hypothesis with virtually no evidence.

One ignored hypothesis is that women are generally better than men at locating food stalls because this is a skill women have learned through going food shopping, which they do a lot more frequently than men.

But then, maybe we women just can’t help frequent food shopping – due to our ingrained “gathering” instinct.

Bath, Somerset, UK