Jack, for what it's worth, my "here"s are hyperlinked directly to two relevant posts from that long thread about the Question Time program.

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Here are the two points that I was trying to make about two meanings of the word "lady":

1. Some degree of progress has been made in that nobility titles have been given to (I suppose some are given and not inherited, right?) Women of Color and Men of Color.

Jack, your comment that "there haven't been many non-white women entitled to claim formal modes of address reserved for the peerage until recent decades" although I'd use the term "Women of Color" instead of "non-white" as that is the accepted term in the USA. We believe that there is an important difference in these terms as the term "non-white" makes white that which all others peoples are defined by, and People of Color does not.

2. In the 19th century and earlier, neither of those two Women of Color who were on that Question Time panel would have been given the courtesy of being called a "lady" (meaning a respectable woman).

Prior to my reading the comments by The Borchester Echo, I wasn't aware that feminist in Britain have problems with the referent "ladies" for them and for other women. Maybe American feminists have the same issues with that word. But that's not true of all women in the USA.