H-D, take a look at threads on M.E. airlines employing females from as little as two years ago and you'll see that everything is in a state of constant flux in the Sandpit. Where once EK was "never" going to employ females, it now does - and, as a few people have already mentioned, it has been absolutely seamless as far as I know, with the ladies fitting in with hardly a ripple.
I believe the same will soon apply to your Herc time. I know there has been a move among some senior people within the training world in EK to accept some recruits with only turboprop time, because there are some who recognise that jet time might not be as important as the experience a turbo prop pilot, particularly one who has been a captain, will bring with them.
My advice? If you want to come to the Sandpit, stick in an application. Currently, it won't get past the Indian clerk in HR/recruiting (in EK at least). However, keep updating it every six months or so, because I believe the 2000 jet requirement will go, the same way that 'no females' did.
Unfortunately for people in your position, recent events in the US with multiple airlines going broke or culling their pilot numbers rather savagely have suddenly put a lot more pilots with jet time and looking for jobs into the equation. However, if history repeats itself, as it has a habit of doing, (I believe) many if not most of those new applicants will leave their jobs in the M.E. and return to the U.S. first chance they get.
In closing, I should say that you should read some other threads on the M.E. forum here to see that there are currently some quite serious drawbacks to working in the Sandpit, not least of which is that it is no longer a way to either a quick command nor to building up a nest egg.