Just sorry, I haven't read all of your posts, so just a couple of points from me.
You are right that young women out earn young men. Why is that? Is it because during school years, girls are told that they must focus on their studies and go to uni, whereas boys are told that books are for girls and they should be outside playing football, etc. Is it fair that boys should expect to score less on their exams even though they are in the same classes and getting the same opportunities as girls? Maybe they are having societal expectations of gender thrust on them. Maybe we are implying to girls that they have to work harder at their studies to progress in a career. Would it not be beneficial to both men and women that we question this?
www.theguardian.com/money/2015/aug/29/women-in-20s-earn-more-men-same-age-study-finds
At the stage where young women are out earning young men, they are normally in a graduate level or lower earnings level. Young women are also more likely to go to university than young men. Young men may go to apprenticeships, work from the ground up or go to uni.
Why is this? Maybe it's a continuation of the above trend that women are told that they need to have a qualification to prove themselves? (This can be linked to studies mentioned by Sheryl Sandberg in her TED Talk that men are more likely to go for promotions before they have the experience, whereas women wait until they have the experience and can back it up) Perhaps it's because women are more likely to work in caring professions which now require degrees? This BBC article has an interesting statistic about that: www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37107208
But by their mid 30s men are massively out earning women. Why is that? Is it because the earlier jobs that paid women marginally better do not offer the same route of salary progression? Is it because women are less likely to go for promotions? Is it because women are still only a few generations in to having a career so we are expected (and expect ourselves) to be happier with a job that offers a good work/life balance rather than pushing on for that extra level of responsibility and higher wage? Whereas a man has to go for that higher wage so he can better provide for his (current or future) family. Or is it because we are settling for somewhere with a good maternity policy even if we aren't planning having kids just yet.
And once we do have kids, the mother is still seen as the main carer. It's not unheard of for the father to be the primary carer, but we hear about it, because it's still unusual. Things like the recently introduced shared parental leave may help, but that policy is pretty shit and badly thought out (imo) so it's not as well utilised as it could be.
I also wonder (I don't have stats for this, just thinking aloud) whether men are more likely to work in self-employment or small businesses that are less understanding about a father needing to take time off because the kids are sick, etc, rather than a small businesses expectations of a mother.
These things are damaging to men too. They are told that they aren't as clever as girls when they are young, so don't bother trying. They are told to 'man up' and either drown or punch out their feelings. They are told that they 'babysit' their kids, rather than parent them. They are told that their job is to provide for their family and that they aren't a real man if they can't.
And that's why I think we still need feminism. 