The more things change...

The roles of women were of indisputable importance in family cults, but it must be stressed that women enacted these cults not only for themselves but also for their families; furthermore, in many cases, men as well as women participated in family rituals...—Family and Household Religion in Ancient Israel and the Levant, page 54

<idle musing>
Nothing really has changed in 3000 years—except now some want to exclude women and claim that's the way it used to be...
</idle musing>