Inside the mysterious Polish village where a baby boy hasn’t been born for a decade
A PLACE dominated by women was once the stuff of Hollywood fiction.
But a village in Poland is baffling scientists, with no boys being born for almost ten years.
In Miejsce Odrzanskie, the mayor is a woman, all the younger firefighters are women and women drive tractors across the fields — highly unusual examples of role reversal in the socially conservative country.
The few couples who remain here have had just 12 baby girls in the past decade — and not a single boy.
If the situation continues, men could one day vanish from the area.
REWARD FOR A SON
Village mayor Krystyna Zykziak, 67, told the Sun on Sunday: “Perhaps there is something in the water.
“There have always been more women in the older generations in Poland as they live longer than men.
“But now we do not have any men under a certain age.
“Couples who want to have a baby daughter want to move here to see if the magic will work on them.”
Migration is one possible factor for the absence of males all over the country as they head overseas for work.
The population of the village, near the Czech border, has fallen from 1,200 in 1945 to just 270. Most who leave do so to find work. Barbara Dworok, 68, has produced a male — but her son Peter, 49, is one of those who has become an economic migrant, living in Germany.
The church organiser said: “We now have female altar boys. We had no choice.”
At the village fire station, Sabina Blana, 21, said: “I love being a firefighter. Girls can do everything guys can apart from some of the really heavy lifting.
“But if you want to find boys you have to go to the next village or to a disco about 25 miles away.”
Fire station leader Tomasz Golasz, 35, moved to the village ten years ago and has two daughters — Julia, eight, and two-year-old Maja.
He exposed the village’s quirk to the world when he entered his all-female team in a firefighters’ contest.
He said: “Women doing ‘men’s work’ has created a fuss. But they do a good job.
“I would not say it is easy to get a girlfriend here as you have to compete with men from other villages.”
His wife Aldona, 35, added: “They say we have so many girls due to too much calcium in our diet. We have lots of milk and cheese.”
Outsiders have offered advice on how to produce a boy. Suggestions have included having sex in certain positions, making love on particular dates and having a potassium-rich diet.
Quacks have also encouraged Polish old wives’ tales such as placing an axe under the marital bed to “guarantee” a boy.
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District mayor Rajmund Frischko is offering a reward to the first couple to produce a son, and may even name a street after the tot.
He said: “I don’t see this as a big issue as we are only talking about 12 births in about nine or ten years.
“But if it carries on for another ten years the scientists will have to come here to study us.”
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