“Please let us know how many of them have never dated.”
Forget those 25+. There are a number who are perhaps 20 or 21 who have “dropped out” of the “yeshiva dating system” and have opted to try and meet boys on their own (which is becoming a greater and greater problem). I dont know how successful this is for any of them, but they feel that at least there is movement. I havent thought it through to say I agree or disagree with them (in theory – in practice I have a numbers of problems with this), but this is how they, the ones affected by the current situation, feel and are reacting.
As for those who are 25+ that we do know from the neighborhood, all of them state that when they were fresh out of seminary they also hardly got any dates. They do complain about the unequal shidduch scene and almost to a woman propose that a way to help resolve SOME of the inequality is for shadchanim to approach the girls side first. They are not concerned about rejection or bruised egos (which they hear – rightly or wrongly – is the reason for the current method of going through the boy first), they just want to know that someone is working on their behalf and hearing that they have a suggestion and that it was passed along is a positive that they would like to hear. The way things work now, they have no idea if their name was suggested to someone, or not, the lack of information causes panic on their part which leads some people to say, do, or even promise outrageous things to shadchanim. Soon those crazy things become the norm and panic driven parents promise even crazier things, all the while the boys are laughing all the way to the bank. Has any consideration been given to starting a shidduch from the girls side? If you have an opinion either way, would you care to share it?