Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden quoted Chinese communist dictator Mao Zedong during a digital fundraising speech on Monday.
“We’ve got to get real economic relief into women’s hands now,” Biden reportedly said, according to The Atlantic reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere.
The former vice president then cited what the pool report claimed was “an old Chinese proverb” reading: “Women hold up half the sky.”
The quote reportedly comes from a proclamation made by Mao about 70 years ago following China’s revolution, according to Fox News.
“Women hold up half the sky” became a common phrase in China and appeared on propaganda in factories, the Washington Examiner reported.
Biden used the phrase while talking about how women have been economically affected by the coronavirus outbreak and praising the high percentage of female college valedictorians.
“Unless you take advantage of half or more of your brain power, you are never going to be in the position where you’re going to be able to compete internationally,” he said. “Women. Women. Women.”
