Interesting post, Laura.  Certainly male dominance, both in institutions and in family life, goes way, way back.  The root cause may not be religion itself, but religions have generally picked up and powerfully reinforced that pattern.  What is fascinating to study (and we need more of it) is patterns in earliest Christianity.  It was short-lived, but even the New Testament gives indications that women were being more equally included and willingly followed, in some cases, by both men and women.  Some of the many sects of Christian belief and practice, from the first thru the third centuries particularly, were not nearly as heirarchical (i.e. increasingly male-led) as was the Pauline line.  That group, soon after Paul's lifetime, became the more literalist and eventually "orthodox" Church.   This "catholic" church then became the Roman Catholic Church, with a very strictly controlled and all-male leadership.  The Christian/Gnostic or other groups more egalitarian were still vibrant for some time, but eventually were suppressed and overwhelmed by the proto-orthodox and later Catholic Church. 

A related observation on post-Reformation developments, mainly Protestant: In general, the more independent (of large institutional control) and "charismatic" (respecting right-brained, creative, spontaneous worship, etc.) a movement or set of churches, the more they have used female leadership.  And in many cases, as they drift back toward more rationalistic/dogma-oriented styles over time, the less women are involved in leadership.  This is perhaps both natural or "automatic," and by decree from formal leadership.  The more recent movement in mainline denominations like Methodists and Episcopalians toward more women leaders, and at higher levels, is of a different nature and more likely to "stick."  Looking beyond just the US, in the German Lutheran (state) Church, the first woman was just elected to their top position.