The «strongman» of Poland’s ultra-conservative ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has blamed young women who drink too much for the country’s low birth rate.
«There are not going to be babies if girls, young women, keep drinking like boys until they are 25,» Kaczynski said Saturday during a Law and Justice (PiS) party rally in Elk, in northeastern Poland, to laughter from the audience. Kaczynski, 73, is still single and has had no children.
«The place in Poland where there are fewer children is Warsaw, so it’s not just an economic question, but also a question of people’s attitude, especially women’s,» he added, according to Bloomberg news agency.
This outburst is the latest in a long series of bombastic interventions in recent weeks with the opposition, the trans community or Germany in the target. Kaczynski is touring small towns in the country as a pre-campaign for the general elections scheduled for October 2023.
Poland’s birth rate is below that of the EU and last year recorded its biggest population drop since World War II. The data also reveal that more children are being born in urban areas, including Warsaw.
In addition, statistics show that women drink significantly less than men, according to data from the Polish Agency for the Prevention of Alcohol-Related Problems. Some 10 percent of women aged 18-29 drink more than 7.5 liters of alcohol a year, and most are single, unemployed or students in large cities.
Opposition Civic Platform deputy Barbara Nowacka said on Twitter that Kaczynski’s statements show how far he is from the reality of «women, our plans, dreams and lives.»
PiS came to power in 2015 in part on the back of its promises of birth support and large families. Since then, Poland has imposed a near-total ban on abortion met with massive street protests and criticism from other European countries. Now PiS’s electoral prospects are in question due to the cost-of-living crisis.
