Women and children first

[MushyMushy]

I'm watching Titanic for the umpteenth and a half times (DD's obsessed) and I was just thinking. If a ship were to sink today, would "women and children first" still apply?

Should it?

 

[RachelEllen]

Should it? Who knows.

Would it? I doubt it.

But was it really women and children first? Or, women and children who were staying in first class first.

 

[Redwitch]

No, they'd fly in TV cameras and have viewers at home vote people off the ship.

 

[MorganLeFey]

interesting uestion.

the idea of "women and children first" implies that women are the weker sex who must be protected. but in this day and age, women serve as police officers, firefighters, in the armed forces...

 

[MushyMushy]

I hate to think my DH's life is less valuable simply by virtue of him being a man.

 

[SandraVB79]

No, they'd fly in TV cameras and have viewers at home vote people off the ship.

Bwahaha!


Serious now: I think the women and kids first was because of 1. Men were gentlemen and 2. women and children were being seen as weak. Right now, not that many gentlemen exist anymore (as, unfortunately, I experience quite often, go read the start of my trip report re: that) and women have proven that they aren't weaker than men.

Will it still happen? I doubt it... it will be the law of the strongest/ fastest, IMO.

 

[VSL]

Maybe they wanted to save the youngest first and, inevitably, the children would need someone (their mother - especially back then) to care for them.

But who knows!

 

[hipporina]

I believe that current disaster procedures now support families with children first including the fathers. The problem with women and children first was that it left so many widows with children that struggled for a way to provide for them. So now, they encourage keeping families intact.

 

[trappednabox]

If it was me, I would rather give up my seat in a life boat to a father so he can go with his wife and child/children. I'm a good swimmer Of course that is easy to say sitting here in my dry chair at my desk

 

[SandraVB79]

If it was me, I would rather give up my seat in a life boat to a father so he can go with his wife and child/children. I'm a good swimmer Of course that is easy to say sitting here in my dry chair at my desk

That wouldn't have made a difference in the Titanic's case, since the biggest problem there was the COLD water. They froze to death.
Plus, of course, the fact that you get "sucked" into the deep with the ship sinking.

 

[eclectics]

No need to worry about that today. One of the maritime laws passed after the Titanic tragedy was "Enough Lifeboats for Every Person Aboard". Believe it or not, that was not the law pre-Titanic. They were only required to have enough lifeboats for a percentage of the passengers.

 

[goodeats]

And if the draft were instituted today would women be included?

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

No, they'd fly in TV cameras and have viewers at home vote people off the ship.

 

[trappednabox]

That wouldn't have made a difference in the Titanic's case, since the biggest problem there was the COLD water. They froze to death.
Plus, of course, the fact that you get "sucked" into the deep with the ship sinking.

Well of course, but if I was on the titanic it wouldn't have mattered b/c I would have been with 3rd class anyway and wouldn't have been allowed to make the choice

 

[teacherforhi]

No need to worry about that today. One of the maritime laws passed after the Titanic tragedy was "Enough Lifeboats for Every Person Aboard". Believe it or not, that was not the law pre-Titanic. They were only required to have enough lifeboats for a percentage of the passengers.

I was about to say this. When we went on a cruise, one of the first things we had to do was have a lifeboat practice. We were assigned a lifeboat based on our cabin location.

I did wonder though...if there was actually a need to evacuate the ship, are people really going to go scrambling from one end of the ship to the other to find their assigned lifeboat?

 

[JVL1018]

I don't know if it would..but *I* think children, at the least, should be the very first ones rescued in any situation like that.

I do agree with women before men..except for my husband, I want him coming with us.

Of course, he's a FF so i am 100% sure that in any emergency he would get me and the kids to saftey and head back in, which annoys me.
I would hope that if he was in any real danger of dying and truly couldn't help anyone else, he'd save himself, even if there were still women/children there still needing help.

 

[JVL1018]

And if the draft were instituted today would women be included?

Heck, no!! I can't go to war!! I'm all for equal rights, up until I have to do something scary..

 

[Disney Doll]

Would it still apply today? Not on your life. There aren't that many gentlemen around anymore.

Should it apply? Well, for children, absolutely. For women...probably not. I do think that it should be parents with children first.

As an adult without children, realistically, while people would be saddened if I died, no one's life would be directly affected. To a child losing a parent, or losing both parents, would have a huge impact.

 

[mytwotinks]

I am trying to picture what would happen if my dh were in some disaster situation. I am sure that the first thing he would do is to get our 2 dd's and myself to safety, but after that I am positive that he would go back and see if there were any other women and children, elderly or injured people that needed his help. Maybe I am naive, but I like to think that most men are still gentlemen. I think that most men would help the women around them, whether or not they had children. Maybe I have just read too many romance novels!

As an earlier poster said, my dh is also a fireman, but I really think that no matter what his job he would do the same.

 

[mytwotinks]

Would it still apply today? Not on your life. There aren't that many gentlemen around anymore.

Should it apply? Well, for children, absolutely. For women...probably not. I do think that it should be parents with children first.

As an adult without children, realistically, while people would be saddened if I died, no one's life would be directly affected. To a child losing a parent, or losing both parents, would have a huge impact.

Oh Disney Doll, don't say that! I am sure that many many many people would absolutely be affected by your loss!