The fact that Jesus chose 12 men as His 12 disciples is an undisputable fact.
Scripture however does not explicitly say why but that does not mean we cannot deduce the reason from Scripture.
Now there are 5 common theories today as to why Jesus only went for men.
The first is that you needed atleast 10 men to start a synagogue and to be called a "Rabbi" but the truth is, Jesus was not starting a synagogue but a church so this one falls flat on its face.
Second is that the disciples were to be witnesses to the Resurrection, and no woman was acceptable as a legal witness in Jewish courts. But Jesus was not looking for legal witnesses; rather, He was sending men and women into the world to preach the good news of the gospel.
Third was that it was a symbolic gesture..a parallel of sorts with the 12 sons of Jacob and that Jesus was inviting the people to see this parallel and draw the conclusion that He was founding a"new Israel". Now, though the name Israel is used over seventy times in the New Testament, it is always applied to the Jewish nation rather than the church.
Forth, which I subscribed to for the longest time, was that Jesus chose 12 men as disciples because He was a child of His time and He had to accommodate the culture of the day which didn't hold women in very high regard.
You see, back then, women had less sway and it would have been offensive to have women apostles not to mention difficult for them to be accepted and respected as church leaders which would have hampered the spread of the gospel.
Some would even argue that if Jesus had to pick the 12 today, He'd go for 6 men and 6 women.
Now this may appeal to logic but it doesn't align with the word of God as I later came to find out.
For one, this would have been totally out of character for Jesus.
You see, Jesus was not culturally diplomatic or conditioned in any shape or form.
He didn't care about adapting to the culture and traditions of the day.
The Guy was a social and cultural misfit who never bothered to fit in.
He never shied away from confronting any culture or traditions of the day that went against the word of God.
Tolerance and tact were not His strong suit which is probably the reason why He would often land into trouble with the religious leaders of the day.
Jesus put truth before convention regardless of who was offended, something even His enemies complemented Him for (see Matthew 22:15-16).
Infact, in John 6 He made a truth statement that rubbed the entire “congregation” the wrong way so much so they literally got up and left.
Probably 100s if not 1000s of people just stood up and left.
They all basically said,"to hell with this Guy!"
What’s interesting though is Jesus didn’t call a press conference to try and do damage control. He didn't apologize or try to justify or explain what He said. He didn’t try to beg them to stay either. In fact, He turned to His 12 disciples and basically said, “You guys want to leave too? There’s the door.”
So cultural and traditional biases had no influence on His selection of 12 men as disciples. If it had been right for Him to include women as part of His 12 disciples back then, He would have done it regardless of any prevalent cultural biases at the time.
This leaves us with one more theory which Scripture unequivocally supports.
The reason Jesus chose 12 men as His disciples is simply because leadership is male.
You see from the beginning, God established a clear pattern/order of relationship between men and women which Paul summarizes in his letters to the various churches.
In 1 Corinthians 11:3 for example, he says:
"But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God."
In verse 8 & 9 he says:
"For man did not come from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man."
Paul basically says the same thing to the church at Ephesus (see 1 Timothy 2:13-14).
This same pattern of male headship carries throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
Leadership is male all the way through.
Infact, there are only two special cases in the Bible where women ruled over the men.
The first was the case of Judge Deborah where the men during her time were basically emasculated and timid forcing the women to step up (see Judges 4:4-10) and the second case was Queen Athaliah who basically usurped the throne (see 2 Kings 11:1-3) .
God lays the burden of leadership on men.
Men have the responsibility (not the right) to lead.
This is God's order and Jesus simply maintained this order.
His actions are totally consistent with His Father's original pattern of creation.
Infact to be ruled by women is considered a symptom of moral and spiritual decadence in the Bible. (see Isaiah 3:12)
Now this is not an attempt to put women down or an invitation for men to lord over women.
God is pro women and so am I.
The paradox of Genesis 1 and 2 is that men and women are equal, yet
unequal; the same, yet different.
Men and women are not unequal in the sense of one gender is better than the other but unequal in God's pecking order based on their roles and responsibilities.
This explains our physical differences which don't make men superior to women or viceversa, just better equipped for their God given roles and responsibilities.
These are complimentary differences simply for the sake of purpose.
The male is the head of the female simply for order and purpose sake (not because they are better or more superior).
Sadly we've been conditioned to believe or picture this as a bad thing but to God it's a good thing.
Infact Scripture gives us an amazing picture of what this looks like if willingly and submissively embraced.
Paul says in Philippians 4:6:
"Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross."
Jesus is not inferior to God the Father. But for the purpose of salvation, He submitted Himself to a position in which He could fulfil the requirements of salvation.
In other words, the pecking order in the Godhead (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, in that order) is not because One is more superior to the Other but simply because of their responsibilities.
This goes for a man and a woman as well.
God has vested the responsibility of headship and leadership to men.
This is not to say women cannot lead, but a call to the men to take up their God given responsibility as head and lead.
If more men did this, fewer women would need to.
In truth, godly women have no problem with submission, provided the men lead like Christ and are themselves submitted to Christ.
You cannot lead if you are cannot be led and a man under no authority is a dangerous man.
But the bottom line is God starts with men because the truth is, if you can change the men, you can change the families and if you can change the families, you can change societies and if you can change societies, you can change the world.
God bless you.