Polish lawmaker calls women intellectually inferior to men

A radical Polish European Parliament lawmaker has launched another sexist tirade, calling it a “20th-century stereotype that women have the same intellectual potential as men,” and that the stereotype “must be destroyed because it is not true.”

Janusz Korwin-Mikke’s comments in Warsaw on Friday came two days after he told the European Parliament that “women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent.”

The president of the European Parliament opened an investigation Thursday into those comments, for which Korwin-Mikke could face sanctions such as a reprimand, a fine or a temporary suspension.

His latest blast came after he was challenged by female lawmakers during a visit to the Polish Parliament in Warsaw. Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, from the Modern party, accused him of offending women and said she would not allow him to do it again.

“There are more women than men in Poland, we’re better educated, and I will not let you offend Polish women, European women and women all over the world. It’s a disgrace,” she told him.

Korwin-Mikke has a history of getting attention for outrageous comments, including comparing the EU to the Third Reich. In 2015, he raised ins arm in a Nazi salute to make a political point in the European Parliament, forcing the centrist government in Warsaw at the time to apologize and express shame at his behavior.

Korwin-Mikke heads a small party that won just under 5% of the vote in Poland’s last parliamentary elections, in 2015, not clearing the threshold need to win seats.