“There are countless single girls who are leaving their childbearing age who will never experience the joys of motherhood due to the shortage of boys.”
I have seen numbers presented for the younger set- showing for example, how there are more 20 year old girls than 23 year old boys. But I have not seen numbers or the older set – is there data that a generation earlier there was also an age gap and that there is a shortage of “boys” in their 40s? setting aside that the 35+ men want much younger women..are there really fewer of them?
The issues facing the older singles are different than those facing the younger – and I don’t think shrinking the age gap will solve it. There are many older single guys out there too. If every boy was married but there were lots of single girls left at 35+ then the age gap theory would be correct. But that is not the case. Focusing on the age gap as the answer to the shidduch crisis distracts from other issues that are at play as well, especially among the older set. We need to help the men and women who are single get married- whether it is to maximize their ability to be good spouses, help them remove emotional or other barriers, help them network so that they can find each other, help them climb out of their boxes so that they can consider other boxes. Having 21 year old guys start to date may help the next generation, but it does nothing to help today’s older singles. These are the ones who really need our help and problem solving skills now so they can get married and raise families.