Women and children first

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Women and children first is a well-known saying, that implies that the lives of women (all ages) and children (usually under 13) are to be saved first (before men) if the lives of a certain collection of people are at stake. The phrase was popularized in its usage on the RMS Titanic, although in reality more first class men survived than third class women, as a result of an unfair lifeboat policy. However it was first used during the sinking of HMS Birkenhead.^{[citation needed]}