I don't think priestesses were at all common among the semitic peoples around the Israelites. You may be thinking of the experience of early gentile Christians who were intimately familiar with Greek and Roman priestesses. 

But ever then, male leadership was profoundly deeply ingrained in the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman culture. 

Let's take the Romans, for instance. Priestess, often temple prostitutes, were an everyday experience. And at the very same time, the utter dominance of the "pater familias," the single male head of every household, rich or poor, was beyond question. 

We also have to add to this picture that the earliest Christian communities were house churches, people gathering in someone's home. Running the home was a female responsibility, so women would have been "leaders" in that domestic sense. But when it came to taking the lead in a communal service, the "pater familias" concept would have dominated.