I disagree with your comment about the female characters. Often they are more mature, and right, when it comes to the events in the books, than the boys are. The women don’t need to grow as much as the boys. Nynaeve was the entire village’s wisdom. Egwene had been in training for a while and had the example of her father and mother as both mayor and inn keeper. She has been way more qualified since the beginning.

Also, on your point about Egwene opposing Rand: he was the most powerful, politically, economically, militarily, and magically, man in the world. And he was insane. Thank the Light the world had someone like Egwene who Could oppose him, and with such empathy! If she hadn’t been there, to balance out Rand’s “male” power in Jordan’s gendered universe, then Rand might have destroyed what he was trying to protect. And, Egwene doesn’t know about Rand’s revelation for the last two books, so from her POV her opposition makes the most sense.