Interesting article, I question some of your sources but your conclusions are very interesting and something I'm going to think about.

If we agree with your conclusions that this is about cultural preferences of women tending to date older men, then one solution could be to encourage women (and make it more socially acceptable) for older women to date younger men. In conversation with me, some women have expressed disgust at the thought of dating a younger man, I wonder where this comes from? It makes so sense to me in a culture that idolises youth.

Perhaps older women who have been taken advantage of by older guys in the past (when the woman was young) are traumatised, and they don't want to cause trauma to a younger guy? I feel like the current dating struggles of everyone is the reckoning of a society that has normalised the abuse of women for centuries. I'm glad we're recognising this with things like the Me Too movement, but we still have a long way to go it seems.