In the UK, why do ladies apparently outnumber gentlemen by more than a thousand to one?

‘Ladies and gentlemen.....’ these titles are complementary, go together, so to speak. You cannot have the one without the other, yet the male part of the set is almost taboo today. Oddly, the term ‘lady’ is in vigorous use - leading lady, cleaning lady, tea lady, lollipop lady; long is the list of female roles which have the honorific suffixed to their simple job-descriptions. However, the usage has now become ubiquitous and adult females are commonly referred to as ‘ladies.’ ‘Why don’t you ask that lady over there.’ or ‘I’ll get you one of the ladies from Accounts...’ And when these special people go to the loo, as they must, they enter via a door marked ‘ladies,’ whereas those of the opposite sex know that they must head for the door marked, simply, ‘men.’