Henry Higgins is the Pygmalion figure in this play. Just as Pygmalion sculpts a female figure so beautiful that it turns into a real woman, so Higgins turns flower seller Eliza Doolittle into a lady.
There is no evidence that Higgins' attitude toward women in general changes over the course...
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of the play. His attitude towardEliza does change: he comes to respect her, as he says, half sardonically, as a "tower of strength." He is willing to accept her as a part of his life on Wimpole Street, which for him is a big change. If she doesn't want that, he offers her things he would not have when the play began:
I'll adopt you as my daughter and settle money on you if you like. Or would you rather marry Pickering?
It is notable that he doesn't just throw her back on the streets now that his experiment with her is over. He understands that since she has become a lady, she can't simply return to her old life.
However, it is impossible for Higgins to change how he treats Eliza. He is rude to her as the play begins and rude to her as it ends, feeling it is his right to insult her and order her around. Eliza tries to explain that it was not his teaching her to speak with an upper-class accent that caused her to be able to become a lady, but Colonel Pickering treating her with respect and dignity. She notes to Pickering that he called her Miss Doolittle, opened doors for her, and was sensitive to her feelings. She says to Pickering that:
You see it was so very difficult for me with the example of Professor Higgins always before me. I was brought up to be just like him, unable to control myself, and using bad language on the slightest provocation. And I should never have known that ladies and gentlemen didn't behave like that if you hadn't been there.
Eliza also states:
the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will.
However, she is wrong. Not only does Higgins at the end of the play pay her the compliment (if half sarcastically) of calling her a tower of strength and offering to adopt her, he accepts her as equal at the end:
You and I and Pickering will be three old bachelors together instead of only two men and a silly girl.
But this isn't quite enough for Eliza, who wants the insults and bullying to stop.