The Jewish Chronicle

You’re too old and too tall, dating site tells woman

- BY MATHILDE FROT

A WOMAN has revealed that she was rejected by a matchmakin­g website because men would supposedly think she was too tall and too old.

The north London resident, who is 57 and 5ft 6in, registered with We Go Together last June and was asked to provide her age, height, level of religious observance, a photo and whether she is “halachical­ly Jewish”.

On submitting her applicatio­n, the free dating service for Jewish Londoners aged between 30 and 78 said it had fewer registered men and could only interview women who met their more stringent requiremen­ts.

Lady Daniela Pears, founder and chair, emailed the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, stating that she did not have the “easiest profile to match” being over 5 ft 4in, not observant and 57.

Lady Pears said she was “only as good as the chaps that register” and added that men in their late 50s were looking for female partners in their late 40s to early 50s. She encouraged her to contact her again two weeks later.

The 57-year-old said that the exchange made her worry that she would never find love and that men “are not going to want someone like me.

“Luckily I have got a social life but if I were really lonely, I’d feel a bit depressed seeing that email because it’s really that you’ve got no hope,” she said.

She described the “horrible” experience of “being put in a situation where you feel men just want younger women and that they’re not looking at you as a person or what you look like, they’re just looking at an age.”

The woman, who was previously married, said that she was looking for “someone to have fun with.”

When contacted by the JC, Lady Pears said it “saddens me deeply to hear that I have inadverten­tly upset a lady who registered with us.

“You may know that I’ve dedicated my time and finances to We Go Together for the last four years motivated totally by ladies such as her,” the site founder said. Lady Pears added that she only had “the best of intentions” and that she would email the woman an apology.

She said We Go Together initially interviewe­d every woman who registered but changed its policy after two years to manage expectatio­ns .

It now asks “some basic questions” before offering a more in-depth interview about interests, values and personalit­y, she said. “If I can see that we don’t have a gentleman that suits that basic match, there’s no point in going further,” she added.

She was told men wanted partners in their late 40s to early 50s

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