Poland’s Ministry of Defense withdraws gender training for soldiers after public backlash and political criticism.
GENDER TRAINING IN MILITARY CURRICULUM
On February 16, an article published on Blask Online revealed that a point regarding gender was included in this year’s soldier training curriculum. The curriculum included “human rights and gender perspective in military operations” as part of the subjects “Civic Education” and “Military Discipline and Prevention”.
The article also featured statements from anonymous soldiers who criticized the gender training initiative. The topic was picked up by other media outlets and opposition politicians, who criticized the defense ministry leadership.
POLITICAL REACTION TO GENDER TRAINING
Opposition politicians criticized the defense ministry’s decision to include gender training. Andrzej Śliwka wrote: “At a time when Pete Hegseth is withdrawing ‘woke’ culture from the American army and restoring common sense, Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz together with his head are introducing gender training for Polish soldiers. Is the pilot flying us into a storm?”
Kacper Płażyński commented: “No jokes. The Polish army needs everything except gender training.”
MINISTRY OF DEFENSE WITHDRAWS GENDER TRAINING
On the same day, Poland’s Ministry of National Defense issued a statement withdrawing the gender training point from the 2026 curriculum. The ministry explained that the topic had been proposed by the Chair of the Council for Women’s Military Service and approved by the MON Personnel Department, but was subsequently removed by the Minister of National Defense.
The ministry noted that such training may still be organized based on a previous decision from July 9, 2020, concerning training methodology for soldiers.
EXPERT CRITICIZES THE DECISION
Michał Piekarski from the Institute of International Studies and Security of the University of Wrocław criticized the withdrawal of the training. He wrote: “It’s 2026 and we’re canceling training in the field of human rights and gender topics in military operations. In other words: we’re pretending that war is purely a male affair and women don’t exist. Failure.”