IT is said that when a man and woman are walking together, the man should walk on the right side of the pavement so he can be prepared for a sword fight, should any danger arise, thus protecting his female companion.

Presumably this dates back to the days of yore when blokes carried swords around, and damsels spent a lot of time being in distress.

The sword-bearing isn't so relevant today, yet the etiquette of chivalry remains a dilemma for the male species.

Is chivalry a thing of the past? Actress Gillian Anderson appears to think so. She has complained in a magazine interview that, when she's on weekly flights, men hardly ever offer to help her load baggage into an overhead locker. I'm sure she's capable of doing this herself, but she's clearly irked by the lack of assistance on offer.

Judy Murray, on the other hand, said on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs recently that she never lets anyone carry her bags, preferring to remain "grounded".

I think I'm somewhere in the middle on this one. While it wouldn't occur to me to expect help loading my own bag into a locker, if a man offered I'd be grateful rather than offended. I'd see it as a sign of good manners, rather than something sexist or patronising.

The same goes for holding doors open. I don't expect a man to allow me through first, just because I'm a woman, but surely holding a door for someone is courteous behaviour, and not to do so is rude. I was walking into the stairwell of a multi-storey car park recently and a woman in front of me let the heavy door swing shut, rather than keeping it open for me. It felt like a slap. Even if she didn't realise I was there - and I'm pretty sure she did - she should've checked to see if anyone was behind her. I would have.

Life is fast and disrespect is commonplace, so politeness and acts of kindness can go a long way. In a world where shop assistants barely look up while serving you, and customers insist on having mobile phones pressed against their ears while being served, is it so bad for a man to hold the door open for a woman, or offer to help carry her bag?

I'm not a helpless creature, but I like to be treated with respect and I appreciate good manners. There are limits though. If someone offered to give up their seat on a bus for me, I'd assume they thought I was either old or pregnant - exactly what a girl doesn't want to be mistaken for if she's neither of those things.