So with a lot of focus on the Titanic tragedy's centennial this past week, I've been reading some news articles about the ship's evacuation debacle. As a result of the lifeboat shortage and the priority thus given to women and children, approximately 80% of the men on board perished. In such a time when the men were the breadwinners, this left a lot of the surviving wives and children destitute.
Now, the "women and children" principle has never been law but rather a chivalrous principle to follow and even then, it's been relatively rare in execution. Nonetheless, Hollywood has done quite the job of romanticizing the notion of the husband remaining behind while the wife and children are led to safety almost to a point where anything less would seem immoral.
So I ask you, do you believe the "women and children first" to be appropriate in this day and age?
What about the single parent father? Or the adopted child's gay parents? Should they be told to stay aboard because they are men?
How about the feminist? If she wants equal social rights, should she not cede her seat on the lifeboat to one of the aforementioned men? Or is a mother always the more important parent than the father?
I am by no means trying to start a gender war but rather, see what people think about a potentially outdated principle.
Now, the "women and children" principle has never been law but rather a chivalrous principle to follow and even then, it's been relatively rare in execution. Nonetheless, Hollywood has done quite the job of romanticizing the notion of the husband remaining behind while the wife and children are led to safety almost to a point where anything less would seem immoral.
So I ask you, do you believe the "women and children first" to be appropriate in this day and age?
What about the single parent father? Or the adopted child's gay parents? Should they be told to stay aboard because they are men?
How about the feminist? If she wants equal social rights, should she not cede her seat on the lifeboat to one of the aforementioned men? Or is a mother always the more important parent than the father?
I am by no means trying to start a gender war but rather, see what people think about a potentially outdated principle.