Can you link a layman's explanation of the value of grammatical gender regarding inanimate objects? After years of learning and being frustrated by French, I had come to the conclusion that grammatical gender was stupid and served no purpose, but I'd love to have a better understanding of its value.

Again, this isn't coming from a position of "prove me wrong, buttfart". This is coming from "I'd like to learn more and have a better understanding of something I'm probably just not getting."