[7] Its most distinctive feature is how different it is to other contemporary Dutch and Fleming "sexual proposition" paintings, many falling into the Merry company genre.

[2] In contrast, in The Proposition the woman is depicted not in a provocative manner, but as an ordinary housewife, engaged in a simple everyday domestic chore.

[8][2] Contemporary Dutch literature stated the sort of activity in which she is engaged to be the proper behaviour for virtuous women in idle moments.

[2] Kirstin Olsen claimed that male art critics "so completely missed the point" that the woman is, in contrast to other works, not welcoming the man's proposition that they mistakenly named the painting The Tempting Offer.

Franits suggests the "woman's unequivocally wholesome activity of sewing provided an important precedent for later genre paintings depicting domestic virtue".

[15] A number of later genre scenes remain ambiguous in a similar way, most famously The Gallant Conversation (or The Paternal Admonition) from circa 1654 by Gerard ter Borch (the Younger), and The Hunter's Gift by Metsu (both Rijksmuseum).