Among others, opposition politicians and celebrities called Jaroslaw Kaczyński’s comments detached from reality, patriarchal and nonsense.
Women, don’t drink alcohol so that you can have children – but at least don’t give birth too young now so that you have time to become mothers.
Leader of Poland’s leading Law and Justice party (PiS). Jaroslaw Kaczyński drew fury after claiming over the weekend that excessive alcohol consumption by young women is to blame for the country’s low birth rate.
– If the situation continues in such a way that until the age of 25 young women drink as much as men of their age, there will be no children, Kaczynski said.
Kaczyński claimed that in order to become an alcoholic, a man has to drink heavily for an average of 20 years, while a woman only has to drink for two. He justified his claims with a doctor who has “succeeded in curing a third of his male alcoholic patients but not women”.
In addition, Kaczyński said that women should not have children too young, because motherhood requires “maturity”.
“Of course we could just laugh”
Among others, opposition politicians and celebrities called the 73-year-old Kaczyński’s comments detached from reality, patriarchal and nonsense.
A left-wing politician Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus said the comments were rubbish.
– Of course, we could just laugh at this and make memes out of this, but this is a serious and tragic matter, he told reporters on Monday.
Many have said that Kaczyński is ignoring the real issues. According to critics, Poles hesitate to have children for economic reasons, among other things, and because PiS, led by Kaczyński, has restricted the right to abortion.
– Poland led by the PiS government is against families and women, Scheuring-Wielgus said.
According to official statistics, Poland’s birth rate is below the EU average.