How to Treat a Lady

Ladies are respectable creatures.  I have never really considered myself a lady though.  A proper gentleman treats a lady with proper respect: opening doors for her, pulling out chairs for her to sit down at a table, opening car doors and helping her in and out of the car. 

Why are ladies so respectable?  Why do they deserve this respect?  It may seem all "old fashioned" or maybe even now considered a disrespect to the female gender.  Women may think "I'm totally capable of doing it myself!  I don't need a man to do it for me!"

A modern lady is used to taking care of herself.  Doing it herself.  You almost need to be capable of being fully independent to function in this modern society without being stepped on or pushed around.  Today is far different than 100 years ago, even greatly different than 50 years ago.  The world has changed.  So has the view of gender roles in modern society. 

Women can now work side by side with men in any profession they choose.  Women can be the boss or even run the whole company.  Women learn math and science and are encouraged to do so.  Women can change the oil in their car.  Women can work and still raise a family if they choose.  Women can choose to not have a family.  The feminist movement has made a lot of wonderful progressive changes for women.

These changes can bring confusion too though.  While we can't argue that there are many pros to these changes, the confusion is definitely a con.  Men are taught to treat women equally.  Women are no different than men.  Women asked for this change.  The traditional forms of respect for women are kind of thrown out the door with this change.  Why should men treat women with special extra respect if women are the same as men?  Why do women get this treatment but not men?  This has been a question on my mind for a good portion of my life.

I spoke with a dear friend about this today to get his viewpoint, as he is one who opens doors for women and shows all the forms of traditional respect to women.  He had some interesting points which I had not thought of before.  Then tonight I found a good article on this very topic.  I thought it had a good answer to the question of why women are so "special":

"— women are still special — special in terms of their awesome ability to bring forth and nurture new life and to mother it to maturity, special as the irreplaceable life partners and companions without whom man could not achieve and be fulfilled, and special for their civilizing influence — the softening of our society. "

This is an interesting view.  Women are different than men.  Both genders are unique and bring different strengths to the table.  Both are equally important.  Both are needed.  I think this quote describes this very nicely. 

And while I can earn my own salary, pay my own bills, cook my own meals, purchase and take care of my own car, open my own doors, and sit down at a dinner table without assistance.... I will no longer refuse any man the right to show me this respect if he so desires.