Rigid shoes are not strictly “better”. Arguably they are in many ways worse, stunting development of small stabilizer muscles throughout the foot and lower leg (through disuse), reducing flexibility and dexterity, encouraging poor posture, and leading to various kinds of injuries especially among runners (heel-striking when running puts a lot of repetitive shock on all of the hard tissues from the heel up through the hip, even when wearing very padded shoes). Shoes with even slightly raised heels in particular lead to reduced ankle flexibility, which impairs squatting and jumping (this is compounded by a lifetime of sitting on European-style chairs for hours every day). They also tend to not be very foot-shaped, causing blisters and cramping people’s toes inward: adults in rigid-shoe-wearing places end up with really weird shaped feet, bunions, etc., sometimes requiring surgery to fix. I suspect that many mobility problems among the elderly are caused or exacerbated by a lifetime of wearing rigid shoes. Maybe less importantly, they lead to much louder footfalls.

Their main advantages are (a) they are more waterproof, (b) they are more durable (especially on hard rough surfaces canvas or thin leather shoes wear out quite quickly), (c) they offer some protection against sharp objects that you otherwise have to pay more attention not to step on.

Male/Female this is due to the pelvic structure.

That’s a great cultural example.

Noisily thumping along is also a way to get people who are walking slower and blocking your path on busy Boston-area sidewalks to notice your presence and move out of the way.

I wouldn't think you were a mugger, it's just startling when there's suddenly someone behind/next to you when you thought you were alone.

I kick gravel or scrape the ground with my shoe every once in a while at night to make my presence known.