u/Auspectress

The first of the nine topics is the most brutal, because it concerns life.

In 2025, 3,975 men and 801 women died by suicide in Poland. Men accounted for 83.2 percent of all victims. That's nearly eleven men per day. The overall number of suicides has slightly declined, but this disparity remains dramatic. Behind every number is a person, their loved ones, and the question of whether help could have come sooner.

According to the latest GUS data, a man's life expectancy is 75.37 years, and a woman's is 82.48 years. The difference is 7.11 years. The standardized mortality rate is 1,357 per 100,000 men and 791 per 100,000 women.

This is not solely a biological sentence. It is also the result of neglect, late diagnosis, addictions, social factors, and a system that still lacks a comprehensive men's health strategy.

The NFZ admits that men less frequently use medical consultations and preventive care. A referral is required to see a urologist on the NFZ, though not to see a gynecologist. We encourage men to get screened, while simultaneously placing an extra hurdle in front of them. The solution is not, of course, to make access harder for women, but to remove the unnecessary barrier for men.

The "My Health" program, PSA tests for some men over 50, and funding for seminograms are necessary steps. However, individual benefits will not replace a strategy with goals, a budget, a timeline, and an institution accountable for results.

Men's health is not just about the prostate. It also includes testicular cancer, bladder cancer, limited access to urology and andrology, sexual health, HPV, PrEP, erectile dysfunction, fertility, and support in cases of infertility. A man's diagnostics should begin in parallel with a woman's diagnostics.

It also includes cardiovascular diseases. In 2024, the standardized mortality rate from them was 483 per 100,000 men and 315 per 100,000 women.

It includes addictions to alcohol, drugs, gambling, and new technologies. The rate of deaths among men under 75 from alcohol-related diseases exceeds 61 per 100,000 in Poland. The EU average is 28.5.

Finally, it includes loneliness after divorce, job loss, widowhood, or loss of contact with children. Loneliness is not a sentimental footnote. It can deepen mental crisis, addiction, and suicide risk.

We need a National Men's Health Strategy, easier access to urologists and andrologists, prevention of heart disease and cancers, parallel infertility diagnostics, low-threshold psychological support, effective addiction treatment, and suicide prevention designed also around the ways men seek help.

For a long time, I have been addressing this in the Sejm and in the Parliamentary Team for Men's Health. I will not agree to men's health being a topic only for one month out of the year.
A person is not a machine. Strength lies in reacting appropriately early enough.

What most hinders men from taking care of their health—queues, referrals, costs, clinic hours, shame, or perhaps lack of knowledge? Write in the comments.

If you are in crisis, call 116 123, 800 70 2222, or 608 271 402 (men's helpline). In a life-threatening situation, call 112.

Tomorrow, part 2/9—violence against men.

Source: Marcin Józefaciuk on X

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View Poll

Due to how much room putting all 9 parties would take, I will include the biggest parties with the most visible political differences:

1. Razem (Most left wing, opposition) --> 4% poll support

2. Lewica (Left wing, part of government). ---> 8-10% Poll support

3. Koalicja Obywatelska (Centre, part of government) --> 30% Poll support

4. Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Right Wing Christian Nationalist, Opposition) --> 25% poll support

5. Confederation (Far Right, Opposition) --> 15% support

6. Razem

Razem sees men's problems more clearly than most of the political scene. The problem is that it's primarily in the program and statements.

✅ Adrian Zandberg has spoken out in favor of equal retirement age and seniority pensions.

✅ Razem proposes an equal split of the 480-day parental leave and the "Housing First" program, which is particularly important for men, who make up 80% of people in homelessness crises.

✅ Marta Stożek and Marcelina Zawisza have intervened on policy toward boys and men. Zawisza also asked about men's health prevention and their homelessness.

✅ The entire Razem circle — 4/4 — supported the bill on the status of the nearest person, which is also beneficial for male couples. The president vetoed the bill.

This is more than silence. But we settle for effects, not intentions.

❌ There is no Razem bill equalizing the retirement age. Instead, there's chaos: The "Senior Card" from December 2023 spoke of 65 years for both sexes, Zandberg in 2025 - about 60, and the current declaration avoids giving a number.

❌ There is no bill or funded program on men's health and suicides.

❌ There is no bill reducing the educational gap for boys.

❌ There are no solutions on shared custody, enforcing contact with children, and parental alienation.

❌ There is no package on unequal military qualification or workplace safety, even though men dominate among fatal accident victims.

2. Lewica

The Left can be credited with two partial achievements:

🔹 Widow's pension has been introduced, but the unequal age has been retained. A woman acquires entitlements at age 60, a man only at age 65. Men make up just 12% of applicants.

🔹 Government Plenipotentiary Katarzyna Kotula co-authored the bill on the status of the nearest person, and The Left voted for it. This is an important step also for men in informal relationships. However, the bill was vetoed, so the real situation of citizens has not changed.

And in the areas for which The Left is directly responsible?

❌ Zero strategy for men's and boys' health.

❌ Zero program to counter male suicide and homelessness.

❌ Zero program to improve boys' situation in education.

❌ Zero bill strengthening fathers' rights and enforcing contact with children, or rather denying the phenomenon of alienation.

❌ Zero project to abolish unequal retirement age, or rather mocking the idea.

3. Koalicja Obywatelska

They hold power. And what have they done with men's problems?

🔹 "My Health", PSA for men over 50, HPV vaccinations for boys, and IVF funding are necessary actions. These are universal programs that men also benefit from - not a coherent policy toward their issues.

🔹 KO supported the widow's pension but left thresholds of 60 for women and 65 for men in it.

🔹 The government pushed through the law on the status of the nearest person. It also gave men access to medical information, the right to burial, housing, and family pension.

And that's the end of it.

❌ No program to prevent men's suicides was created with a budget, deadlines, and measurable goals.

❌ There is no national men's and boys' health strategy, public andrology network, systemic urological diagnostics, or comprehensive male infertility treatment program. A man has to get a PSA after fifty and then fend for himself.

❌ A man still retires five years later.

❌ The "Mama 4+" program still treats the father like a substitute parent. The mother can receive the benefit from age 60, the father from 65 – essentially only after the mother's death, her abandonment of the children, or her cessation of raising them. KO inherited this absurdity and did not fix it.

❌ The shared custody bill only appeared after over two and a half years and still has not been adopted by the Council of Ministers. There is no binding law effectively protecting the child's bond with both parents, enforcing contact, and countering the isolation of the child from a parent. The father can still lose years of the child's life waiting for the next court decision.

❌ MEN noticed the educational gap for boys and hired an expert. At the same time, it admitted it does not conduct separate analyses of programs and does not plan specific changes or recommendations for work with boys. An expert without a program, budget, and schedule is an alibi, not reform.

❌ There is no systemic support for single fathers, men experiencing violence, or men in homelessness crisis. There are statistics, conferences, and occasional declarations. There is no policy.

❌ Mandatory military qualification still applies essentially to all 19-year-old men, and women only with selected qualifications. KO has not presented a bill equalizing obligations.

4. PIS

What has it done since the elections?

✅ In October 2024, PiS MPs signed two important interpellations: on discrimination against men and on their suicides. The first was a cross-party initiative and accurately described health, retirement, family, educational, and military problems.

🔹 PiS supported the widower's pension and proposed a higher share of the second benefit. That's a real plus, but the law still left a five-year age difference between women and men.

From there, the political void begins.

❌ The PiS interpellation correctly diagnosed the problems. But no comprehensive bill, strategy, timeline, or funding followed the diagnosis. PiS managed to ask the government what it would do for men. It couldn't write its own answer.

❌ PiS did not present a national men's and boys' health strategy, a mental health prevention program, or a project for systemic urological and oncological screenings.

❌ No PiS bill emerged to introduce shared custody, effective enforcement of child contact, or child protection from isolation from a parent. In July 2026, the party held a family debate. The official statement mentioned a "global attack," values, and projects "on the table." There was no concrete paternity law. I'm holding it accountable for what was submitted to the Sejm, not what's supposedly on the party table.

❌ All present PiS MPs voted against the Closest Person Status Act. They thereby rejected concrete rights also for men living outside marriage: medical information, representing a loved one, housing protection, and social entitlements. Ideological warfare turned out to be more important than people's everyday safety.

❌ PiS still defends the retirement age of 60 for women and 65 for men. After losing the elections, its government submitted a seniority pension bill: 38 years for women and 43 for men. The new government withdrew it, and PiS didn't resubmit it as an MP's bill. Besides, the bill didn't eliminate inequality - it just copied it.

❌ The PiS-created "Mama 4+" program still treats the father as a backup parent. A father can basically receive the benefit only after the mother's death, abandonment of the children by her, or cessation of their upbringing - and five years later than a woman.

❌ PiS did not present a program to reduce the educational gap for boys, support single fathers, combat male homelessness, or ensure equal division of defense duties. A man still must mandatory report for military qualification. PiS doesn't propose equal duties.

5. Confederation

What has it actually done since the elections?

✅ MPs signed interpellation no. 5381, which broadly described discrimination against men—from health, education, and pensions to fatherhood and military duties.

✅ The Confederation submitted a bill providing for misdemeanor and criminal liability for persistently blocking a child's contact with the other parent. I also signed this bill.

🔹 Work on shared custody is nearing completion.

This marks the end of the most important specifics. Political decoration begins.

❌ In January 2024, the Confederation established the Parliamentary Team for Equal Men's Rights. One meeting took place—an organizational one. After that—no substantive meetings.

The team didn't stop operating. It never started. The team chairman himself called it a "joking idea," a "political symbol," and an initiative created mainly from "stunt motivations." Men's issues thus served as a joke at feminists' expense, rather than systematic work.

❌ The same chairman said he doesn't want to equalize the retirement age and would leave women with their current privilege. Another Confederation MP later considered equal age merely a "matter to discuss." There's still no bill. Men continue to work five years longer, and the "equal rights" team doesn't demand equal rights.

❌ In the final vote on the widow's pension, the Confederation didn't cast a single vote in favor—two MPs voted against, twelve abstained. The law left a five-year age inequality but gave widowers the option to combine benefits. Even partial support for men didn't gain Confederation's backing.

❌ All present Confederation MPs voted against the bill on the status of the nearest person. They rejected specific rights also for men living outside marriage.

❌ The advantage of women in completing studies was explained by a Confederation MP as their "traits and dispositions."

❌ The boys' educational gap, their worse results, and more frequent dropouts from the system were not analyzed.

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Context (super short): One of the communes had to complete one of the projects funded by KPO (Post covid EU recovery fund). The project itself is bigger as it also includes purchasing extra stuff to better equip Polish schools with 21st century equipment.

One side project included recruiting pupils to extra teaching lessons in the STEAM method (expanded teaching approach to STEM sciences). The project automatically gave every girl +1 point, thus favouring girls in studying things promoting STEM sciences. The ombudsman declared it discrimination against boys as there were no reasonable grounds for it.

Translation:

In the Pszczyna commune - Toruń County. We have received an official response from the Ombudsman u/BiuroRPO

regarding the discriminatory provisions of the EU-geniusz competition regulations.

In March 2025, we wrote on our website about the EU-geniusz competition that took place in Toruń County [1]. This is a project aimed at organizing additional classes for students in the STEAM field as well as purchasing modern equipment for schools. However, its regulations contained provisions that openly discriminated against male students. During recruitment: women received +1 point; they also had priority in the event of a large number of applications.

Let us recall that the application of compensatory measures is not arbitrary, as they should be based on specific criteria. They must stem from actually existing factual inequalities, be consistent with the principle of proportionality, and inherently have a temporary nature.

As an Association, we took action and submitted a request to the Ombudsman to intervene in the matter. In the response received, the Ombudsman noted that:

- there were no grounds for privileging women in the recruitment process,

- the principles of equal treatment and the prohibition of discrimination were violated,

- equalizing opportunities for one social group cannot come at the expense of another.

Let us recall: The Toruń County Starostwo, unlike in Pszczyna, relatively quickly accepted the arguments and amended the regulations.

This is not the first such situation. Practices of this type have already appeared in the “Małopolski Pociąg do Kariery” project [2] as well as in the aforementioned Pszczyna. The Ombudsman's position is unchanged - compensatory privileging does not have to be inappropriate, but in these programs it went too far. However, we do not stop there and will check whether the situation of boys in the competition has improved. In the near future, we will request the Toruń County Starostwo for 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

We encourage everyone to check similar programs in their own local governments for inequalities. The history of EU-geniusz shows that intervention has a real impact and action must be taken.

Recruitment inequalities against boys are inequalities. We demand equal opportunities for boys.

Links: https://x.com/schmorgpl/status/2080903423260811355, https://schm.org.pl/blog/eu-geniusz-nie-dla-chlopcow-czesc-pierwsza-historia-dyskryminacji/, https://bip.brpo.gov.pl/pl/content/rpo-pociag-do-kariery-marszalek-wojewodztwa-odpowiedz

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