I think they do understand the generalization. They just have different wiring to decide what happens next. They often know the statement is true, but that's not what is important to them.

Prompt: This [negative generalization] is associated with [familiar group].

Men: "This is a true statement, and points to the solution."

Women: "I know a person in that group and I must defend them."

From a man's problem-oriented perspective, this statement addresses a problem, and the path to the solution. It is objective, and the group can be conceptualized without subjective attachment.

From a woman's people-oriented perspective, this statement is an attack on a person she knows (or her), and cannot be approached objectively, at all.

Self-aware women know this about themselves, and instead of trying to overcome this instinct (God made them this way for a reason), they accept the conclusion, a man has to handle that problem.