Thank you for you reasoned and insightful reply :-)

I agree that in rural areas both genders are usually more involved in manual labor and self-sufficiency. That is not the case in urbanized areas (the ones I always lived in), and I agree many men are not that skillful as well, nowadays. :-D

Besides, of course I was mostly talking about what I see, and that's the Italian reality. It looks like it might be different in other countries.

> "It seems difficult to imagine what it was like growing up in an environment where half the population was so lacking in basic skills"

Oh well, it works just as it always had: men and women complement each other :-)

Hence most women here were hapless with tech, and most men were useless in the kitchen. Different roles. So they needed each other! :-D

Not that I miss the "good old times" (not so good after all), but it worked that way for ages. And in needing each other, men and women were less lonely (usually).

Today we have lots more freedom and equality... but we're also lots more lonely, isolated and meaningless. Pros and cons.