Yeah, no. They send the men, who are bigger, stronger, and more likely to survive. This is particularly true for neanderthals, who appear to have favored hand to hand combat against large game as opposed to ranged weapons.

If a tribe loses half its men, or even 90% of its men, it can repopulate in a few years. If it loses 90% of its women, they're fucked.

The reason is that there is a hard cap on how quickly women can reproduce. For a population of men to reproduce faster, they simply need to have more sex. For a population of women to reproduce faster, you need more women.

Boils down to this: A population of 1 man and 100 women = 100 pregnant women. A population of 1 woman and 100 men = 1 pregnant woman.

Men were considered more expendable for a reason, and "protect the women and children" is a natural male instinct for a reason.