Handbag, or no handbag?

Today I stood in front of Manor at the Piazza Dante for a good 20 minutes while waiting to meet my partner for lunch. Simply out of curiosity, I started comparing the number of women vs. the number of men who carry purses, handbags, backpacks or some form of container for their personal belongings. A random sample of 10 (5 men, 5 women) was chosen: every third person who passed by the ash tray was counted until his/her gender quota was filled. Not surprisingly, only 1 out of 5 men carried a backpack and all women carried a purse or a handbag.

It makes me wonder, what is it in our culture that causes such phenomenon? Is it simply the influence of popular culture/fashion? If women tend to carry purses or handbags to hold their belongings, where do men's belongings go? Can we take advantage of such kind of behaviour in the field of cultural heritage?