Women-and-Children Isn’t a Thing

No more “women and children,” please.

A recent UN headline reads, “Afghanistan: Record number of women and children killed or wounded.”

Here are the details:

“The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported in its Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict midyear update, that there were 1,659 civilians killed and 3,254 wounded; a 47 per cent increase compared with the same period last year. […] Women and children made up close to half of all these civilian casualties at 46 per cent, according to the report. 32 per cent were children, with 468 killed and 1,214 wounded. Fourteen per cent of civilian casualties were women, with 219 killed and 508 wounded.”

Thirty-two percent children.
Fourteen percent women.
That leaves 54 percent men.

So, obviously, men and children made up the bulk of the casualties.

Women accounted for less than a quarter.

Men accounted for more than half.

Still, “women and children” were the target of the bleeds/leads headline.

While obviously a gratuitous phrase used in print and TV headlines in an effort to elicit extra shock and horror in response to an already…