From my own experience, it seems as if women will pick up a scent much more easily than a man. Is there any biological evidence to this?
I have also heard that women sometimes get fluctuations in their sensitivity to smell when they are on their period or pregnant. Do hormones play some part in this?
Anecdotal evidence has limited usefulness.
But once in Kentucky I was in the kitchen cleaning and slicing some ramps (a very potent wild-growing onion relative, beloved of certain Appalachian folk). I didn’t notice much of an odor, but Mrs. J. called down from upstairs to find out what had died.
This may be true for dogs as well. Last weekend I had occasion to rescue a garden snake that had gotten wedged in a flower pot, and it exuded some sort of stinky musk. My male spaniel seemed mildly interested in the odor, but the female Labrador was instantly repelled.