Were you ever underestimated?

[Achromatic]

Here's the thing - for many of us, act like a lady was what we were told when we did something that someone didn't want us to - may laugh too loudly, or climb a tree, or want to play football, etc. etc.

The problem is how you define lady. If you use it to impose some sort of ideal of how you want a woman to be, then you can understand why it is resented by women who want to be who and what they are.

It's like me saying to a man "Gee - sorry for treating you like a good boy."

If you mean treating another human being with respect, professionalism and courtesy, then I don't have a problem with it.

The corollary to that I once saw, man holding a door open in an office for a woman. She glares at him, and says loudly for everyone to hear, "You don't have to hold the door for me because I'm a lady, you know!" He retorts, "Ma'am, I'm not holding the door for you because you're a lady, but because I'm a gentleman."

That being said, certainly, there is a difference between assisting, helping, offering to make life easier, than condescension.