I'm kind of perplexed at the thought of a 'cultural reluctance to take recognition of anything that helps men more than women'. Are we really in that mindset? And why?

I think that much of the progressive mindset these days is heavily influenced by Feminism. To be clear, I am in favor of gender equality and I have a lot of friends that consider themselves feminists. However, there is a concept that is popular among feminists, that is derived from the oppressor/oppressed dichotomy among Marxists, but applied to gender. Men are the oppressors and women are the oppressed. Progressives that subscribe to this viewpoint typically oppose policies that help those they consider their oppressors: men. To me this is at best absurd, but at worst divisive. I typically see this online, and I don't hear this from people I know in real life. However when I saw how focused Kamala's campaign was on women, I have to wonder if it is influenced by people that think this way.

I do suspect that credit, and help for first-time home buyers would have made for some winners.

It's hard implement government policies that only have winners. During COVID, I had to sell my home to avoid foreclosure. At the same time, my daughter was accepted into a public magnet visual and performing arts high school, that's highly reputable (it's where Erica Badu attended high school). I'm in a rent house now, and home prices in our area of skyrocketed to an average of 500K or more. So I can't afford a house where we live and I don't want to move because I don't want to endanger her eligibility.

Giving help for first-time home buyers will likely cause housing prices to rise even more, making them hard to afford for people, like me, who aren't first time home buyers,. Regardless, it might help more than it hurts, which is ultimately what government policy should strive for.