Hinduism has always had female deities since its beginning. The Rig Veda mentions Saraswati (who is part of the female mirror of the Hindu trinity - Brahma/Vishnu/Mahesh, and correspondingly Saraswati/Lakshmi/Parvati). Traditionally, earth and water were associated with the feminine; in the Rig Veda Prithvi is the earth goddess, various apas are water goddesses. Usha was the dawn goddess.

Hinduism also has had a veneration for motherhood, and probably as a result, "mother goddesses" have become very popular among various sects at different times. Kali Ma (Mother Kali) or Durga (as she's known in east India) has a huge following today. Something to remember, though, is that Hinduism has no central authority, so people are pretty much free to worship whichever god or goddess they want. Combine that with a very very long history, and you can see how dozens of goddess worship sects have appeared, some still surviving and some extinct. But equally, there are other sects where the focus is on different gods, so it's not something uniform to Hinduism.

Finally, I think Hinduism (among major religions today) is very much centered on women. What I mean by that is that it is largely women who carry the religion, teach it to their children, perform the rituals, keep the home shrines, etc. There are, of course, the male priests (the Brahmin caste) who do the "official" work like performing marriage ceremonies, doing the funeral rites, yajnas, etc. But that is a small part of Hinduism, since Hinduism is more a culture than a formal religion. And culture is primarily propagated at home, not in temples.

In most Hindu homes you will find a small shrine with a a few idols of gods and goddesses, some incense burning, a swastika, etc. Typically, it's the women who maintain it, do the daily "pooja" or "artee", light the incense. It's the women - mothers and grandmas - who bring kids up in that culture, telling them stories from the Mahabharata or Ramayana or Vedas. There are a lot of religious festivals that are for women only, or focused on women, such as karva chauth. And if you go to a Hindu temple, chances are that you'll find the women outnumber the men there. They usually take the lead in singing "bhajans".

So it's not surprising that goddesses are popular among many Hindus today. Again, that doesn't mean they don't venerate the other Hindu gods, it's just that different sects have a different primary focus.