Thank you (not for the crazy part, but for the rest). I hadn't thought of it that way. That said, "women-and-children" is used in too many contexts that send the message that women and children are equally vulnerable, defenseless, and in need of being taken care of (for example, when a headline announces that 25 people are dead, "including 11 women and children").

The effect it has is in reinforcing, in some men, the belief that they are our protectors - which also makes them the deciders, the keepers, the daddies/controllers (not just of children, but of women).

And that's just not acceptable.