Why aren't the women and children mentioned in the feeding of the 5000 miracle?

In the Bible it says that children are important. In the story of Jesus feeding the 5000, it says there were 5000 men, not including the number of women and children. Why is that?

That is an awesome question and you’re probably not going to like my answer! The fact is the Holy Bible was written in a time when the society was patriarchal, which means a society where men were considered more important. BTW, this was common in our world and still exists in many places today. Most references referring to men and women or even groups of people are referred to in the masculine form. You’ll see the pronoun “he” used a lot and the pronoun “she” used infrequently unless it relates to a specific woman.

We have to remember that the Bible was written during a time when men were considered more important and women were seen as not as significant. The same applies to children.

The truth of the matter is that Jesus probably fed closer to 10,000 people that day but only the 5000 men were acknowledged in number. Now, that’s not to say that that Matthew, a Jewish tax collector, didn’t, at least, acknowledge the women and the children. In Matthew 14:21, it reads, “The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.”