You've jumped very quickly into 'everything is the fault of the patriarchy or patriarchal thinking' - which is the main reason I disagree with Elle most of the time. Sure, you can argue all of these things.... but it's a reductive argument and one in which I can do the same.
Why weren't human beings still stuck in the continents they were born in, why were they being given the option of international trade, why were some women (though not all) in societal positions more advantageous than the stoker room boilers? Why did we cross the oceans? Why did we build things? Why did industrious nations develop increasingly complex machinery to propel human beings away from 60,000 years of eating mammoth and doing hand art.... Patriarchy. That global awesomeness responsible for everything good in the world, Medium, lightbulbs, tampons, and democracy.
There are instances of patriarchy benefiting lots of people lots of the time as well as plenty of examples of it being sub par in what it offers - but the argument is reductive because of an absence of other examples with which to compare it against. The lack of lifeboats can be attributed to patriarchy, but so can globe-trotting.
In this instance the maths is clear - the patriarchy benefited women relative to men whatever their class - but the survival rate is lower the lower down the class system you go. This is the understanding of Titanic - what I found fascinating about the study that Elle posted was that this isn't the norm.
You can see the maths here. http://www.icyousee.org/titanic.html
And now because I'm a complete Titanicophile....
The lifeboats on the Titanic weren't filled to capacity because of a general lack of panic early on - not many people believed the ship was sinking particularly as the earlier boats went off. The longer it went on, the more full the lifeboats became. The last collapsible lifeboat didn't make it off in time, it was discovered a month or so later floating with three corpses and the ring belonging to doomed couple Edvard and Gerda Lindell. As for rafts, with only ships furnishings, no tools to hand, and 2.5 hours to make a raft that will not only float but ensure you stay above the water and not get hypothermia. You only get one go - lots of people did attempt to use bits of furniture and other detritus but people didn't drown, they died of the cold. It's worth remembering that three or four passengers died in the lifeboats themselves from being splashed and getting hypothermia.
Could the captain have created a giant raft from scratch using detritus held together within a ring of lifeboats.... probably if he'd had more time, but if you've ever done that corporate training where six people have to make sure an egg doesn't break, or build a spaghetti tower, you'll know why he just wandered off and fell in the sea.... because, fuck that.
