What maketh a lady? Country Life has the (long) list

She should excel at making love, lasagne and long gin and tonics – but never downs her drink in one

The Lady
(Image credit: Chaloner Woods/Getty Images)

Country Life magazine has published a 39-step guide to becoming a lady - to the bemusement of readers.

It follows on from their guide to becoming a gentleman and presents itself as a "part serious, part tongue-in-cheek" list of qualities that define a modern lady.

So what maketh a lady according to Country Life? She is neither early for a dinner party nor late for church, doesn't over-pluck her eyebrows and excels at making love, lasagne and long gin and tonics.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The perfect lady can also paunch a rabbit, pluck a pheasant and gut a fish - but allows men the privilege. She also might not understand the rules of rugby and cricket, but enjoys them anyway.

While the gentleman's list involves travelling and sailing, the ladies list is dominated by cooking, looking after children and tending to her appearance (Number 31: a lady is never afraid to overdress).

This hasn't gone down with commentators, who argue that the list is a "depressingly domestic" reinforcement of traditional gender roles.

"That's being a lady, you see, demurely folding your own capable hands in your lap and letting your chap get on with the 'manly' tasks, because that's how it's always been done," says the Daily Telegraph's Claire Cohen.

More worrying, the list appears to suggest that putting up with sexual harassment is ladylike, says Cohen.

Number 20 on the list – a Lady knows how to deflect a lecher with grace – sparked a fierce response from journalist Daisy Buchanan.

"Does screaming 'F*** OFF YOU MASSIVE PERV, OR I'LL TELL YOUR MUM' count as 'grace'?" she asked.

In response, Buchanan has comprised an alternative list of steps to being a lady, which includes making a decent stab at minor repairs on boilers, laptops and washing machines, swearing periodically and owning some underwear that was not bought as a multipack.

The full Country Life list

A lady...

1 Finds laughter is the best medicine

2 Can say 'thank you' no matter where she is in the world

3 Cooks perfect, crispy roast potatoes

4 Offers to split the bill

5 Knows that everyone, including herself, improves with age

6 Offers the builder a cup of tea

7 Excels at making love, lasagne and long gin and tonics

8 Can silence a man with a stare and make a dog lie down with a hand signal — and vice versa

9 Can imitate Piglet and Pooh voices for a bedtime story

10 Prefers Mr Knightley to Mr Wickham, but is secretly in love with Rupert Campbell-Black

11 Never downs a drink in one, unless it's a shot of tequila

12 Is aware that the school run and dog walking do not require full make-up

13 Never wears shoes she can't walk in

14 Knows when a man is spoken for

15 Can paunch a rabbit, pluck a pheasant and gut a fish, but allows men the privilege

16 Remembers her godchildren's birthdays

17 Knows songs for a long car journey

18 Is neither early for a dinner party nor late for church

19 Doesn't over-pluck her eyebrows

20 Knows how to deflect a lecher with grace, and a proposal with kindness

21 Comforts nervous flyers

22 Would never have Botox

23 Knows when to let a man think it's his idea

24 Would never own a handbag dog

25 Can tie — and untie — a bow tie

26 Might not understand the rules of rugby and cricket, but enjoys the game anyway

27 Knows when to take control in the bedroom and the boardroom

28 Knows the difference between Bentley & Skinner and Baddiel and Skinner

29 Instils manners in her children, but lets their characters flourish

30 Knows when to deadhead a rose

31 Is never afraid to overdress

32 Can handle a sports car, a sit-on mower and a ski lift

33 Knows when to stop dyeing her hair

34 Teaches her son to iron his shirts and her daughter to change a fuse

35 Owns a little black dress

36 Always has a hanky

37 Knows that 'brevity is the soul of lingerie'

38 Has kissed several frogs and made them feel like princes

39 However lucky in life, she doesn't boast on Facebook

Explore More