Now those eating were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Matthew 14:21 TLV

Women and children were often not numbered in Biblical accounts, not because they weren't important, but because they were actually numbering families and not individuals. Since polyandry was not an option, each adult male effectively represented a single family (or household), whether married or not.

Single women were always a member of a family and were never the head of a family unless she had young childre and were both widowed and without surviving family. Young widows didn't remain single for very long, and older widows without brothers or grown children of their own were unusual.

All government, civil and religious, centered on and extended from the family. Hence, all men were the heads of a unit of government.