I agree that the gender pay gap is something of a myth. I can tell you that women are on their way to eclipsing men in pay, given their higher rate of entry into the professions of law, medicine, and business-related professions. Much of the pay gap is due to the fact that YOUNGER women are taking the jobs of retiring Baby Boomers, for whom companies jump at the chance to replace with younger candidates who will work for less. I guarantee you that in 2030, this will be a total non-issue (at least for women) without any further action.
As to the last sentence: I do not believe that the eroding of the traditional marital family in favor of other forms of family formation as a norm has brought us a more society. Father may not always have known best in the 1950s, but his presence in the home did provide for a degree of stability and order (on the whole; I realize that individual families had their own issues) that is lacking today. Stability and order are lacking for multiple reasons, but the lack of a father in too many homes is a key factor in that unfortunate development.