There are many reasons to get out of the saddle besides hills - starting up quickly when the light turns green, getting over level crossings and cattle grids with more even loading on the wheels. In any case, this woman wants to learn how to do it, so I'm willing to show her how.
Many of my best commuter skills were, oddly enough, learned on a velodrome while training for the weekly track racing league. It's surprising how useful a good standing start is in downtown rush hour traffic. And of course we had to learn to shoulder check to both sides without wavering, because we didn't want to switch up or down the banking without making sure there was no-one coming up behind us.