insider.si.edu: The ladies' etiquette hand-book : the importance of being refined in the 1880s / edited by David E. Schoonover ; foreword by Kenneth Cmiel
The ladies' etiquette hand-book : the importance of being refined in the 1880s / edited by David E. Schoonover ; foreword by Kenneth Cmiel
AOL: Our Editors Swear By These Etiquette Books for Brushing Up on Modern Manners
Our Editors Swear By These Etiquette Books for Brushing Up on Modern Manners
The plural possessive is "ladies'." "Lady" is singular, so if you were referring solely to one woman's shoes, it would be "the lady's shoes." As for your second question, I'm assuming you're referring to a group of women in your salutation of them, so it would be "Good morning, ladies." And as you're addressing them directly, the comma preceding "ladies" is necessary.
Hence, there is no ambiguity with the men, and for the same reason no ambiguity with the ladies. Ladies is the plural form of lady, so the apostrophe goes to the right - ladies'. If you are wondering why we don't write ladies's, it is because ladies is one of the exceptions, along with girls', parents', players', weeks' and even Klingons'
Ladies Captain means the Captain responsible for Ladies Golf elected to represent the Lady Members at Club and County level and to fulfil [sic] any requirements of the relevant Golf Association.
It probably has to do with the phonetic and metrical properties of "ladies and gentlemen" versus "gentlemen and ladies." Say them both out loud and see which one sounds better to you, intuitively.