AOG, did andy-hughes use lady/ladies before you did, use it first? Apparently not, but you will correct me if I am wrong. Here :
AOG at 13.13 Thusday : "Come on Lady ABers...."
andy hughes, 54 minutes later, at 14.07 and in reply to your points: "..as far as the AB ladies are concerned..."
andy is adopting your term in reply to you, since you spoke of AB Ladies.
I am certainly right in that you don't see anything patronising or disagreeable in the word 'ladies' as you used it. It jarred with me when I saw it so used. One of the women, OIL, pointed out the same thing: "patronising in itself"
Your appeal to " Lady ABers" for support produced 6 against you and two non-committal. That is what their opinion was. The fact that the men were against counted for nothing to you so you asked the women. If you see any comfort in their replies, you should be a politician; they are good at explaining polls away.