Women were pushed out much earlier: when the patriarchic church leaders clamped down on gnosticism (the variant in which men and women were equals -- to the extent that they revered Mary Magdalene as an apostle and had a number of - later forbidden - gospels with her as central character), basically from the second century. That process was more or less finished when Athanasian Christianity (or Nycene Christianity, the inventors of the Trinity and editors of the Bible [by censoring out most scripture then current], of which all major Christian churches are off-shoots) took over in the disintegrating Roman Empire by the end of the 4th century, and crushed all rival interpretations.

Women still had important roles later on, but not as official church heads.

A forgotten "saviour" of Athanasian Christianity is Theodelinda (lived AD ~570-628). She was a Bavarian princess married to Lombardian king Autharia (AD 584-590), after whose death she became a strong ruler: first shortly on her own, then via a figurehead husband-king (Agilulf, AD 591-616), then via her own son Adaloald (AD 616-626). At this time, Athanasian dominance was gone because most of the Germanic tribes were Arians (which was the main rival in the 4th century battle for monopoly in the Roman Empire). Now, Theodelinda was a religious fundie, and by propping up the Church in the forms of financial support, church-building and repression against Arians, she played a key role in resurrecting Athanasian Christianity as dominant at the heart of Christianity. (Though it would take another century until Athanasians also win against and suppress Arians among the nobility.)

Then, in the 9th century, the papacy had one of its more decadent periods at the time of Muslim invasions into Italy, called the pornocracy. Called so because the blame was later laid on some female aristocrats (Theodora and her daughter Marozia) who were in incestuous relationships and controlled several Popes. What they 'forgot' was that these women were shaped by exploitative Popes and aristocrats already in childhood, and male contemporaries and successors were no less decadent -- in fact Marozia's bad reputation is the work of her own power-hungry son Alberic II from 932, when he deposed her and her husband and took over, to rule Italy and control six successive puppet Popes.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}