henry copeland:

Men take shortcuts, while women follow well-known routes: Study confirms that men and women tend to adopt different navigation strategies and men navigate more efficiently than women -- ScienceDaily

"As predicted from previous research, these experiments showed that men were more likely to take shortcuts and on average reached their goal location faster than women. In contrast, female participants were more likely to follow learned routes and wander," explains Boone. "In both experiments, men were significantly more efficient than women, even after controlling for the effects of strategy."
- www.sciencedaily.com