Frauen und Kinder zuerst!

Women and children first is a well-known saying, that implies that the lives of women (all ages) and children are to be saved first (before men) if the lives of a certain collection of people are at stake. The practice arose from the sinking of the HMS Birkenhead in 1852, though the phrase itself was not coined until 1860. ALthough never part of international Maritime Law, the phrase was popularized in its usage on the RMS Titanic, where, as a consequence of this practice, 74% of women on board were saved, 52% of men - but only 20% of men. Among passengers (i.e. excluding crew members) the gender disparity was even more overwhelming, with 72% of women surviving and only 7% of men. Some masculists and men's rights activists have viewed this, along with policies of conscription, as evidence of what Warren Farrell refers to as "male disposability".