Fine. Don't listen.
beehaw.org
Alt text: Picture of Sigourney Weaver with a cat in her arms on the movie set. Caption reads...
"Alien is a movie where nobody listens to the smart woman, and then they all die except for the smart woman and her cat. Four stars."
To take things a step further, the only smart male on board is an orange cat.
It only takes one brain cell to survive.
It's just Garfield under an assumed name. Probably the one who engineered the things to begin with.
In the first half of the film the audience is meant to think that Ripley is a heartless bitch, especially the airlock scene when she refuses to let the landing party return aboard. I've always thought that her saving the cat was a great narrative device to show us that she isn't this cold, heartless person. She was doing what was necessary to save as many members of the crew as possible.
Alien is a horror movie, and horror movies always have the virtuous survive. It's no different to Friday the 13th.
The virtuous also die in horror movies. There will just usually be at least one who survives.
Men unable to handle women’s war?