Who put forward the slogan that women hold up half the sky?

The slogan "Women hold up half the sky" was put forward by Chairman Mao.

Where does the well-known phrase "women hold up half the sky" come from? The answer lies in Baozi Village, Yanglongsi Township, Xifeng County, Guiyang City. It was during the climax of agricultural production in 1950s that Baozi Village, Yanglongsi Township set up an agricultural production cooperative at the end of 1954. At that time, many male members despised women's old ideas and disapproved of women going out to work, resulting in only three or four of the 23 female members in the village going out to work. They did the same work as the male members, but according to the division of labor system at that time, the male members scored 7 points a day and the female members scored only 2.5 points, which seriously affected the production enthusiasm of the female members, and the labor force in the village was short, making it difficult for the masses to eat. At this time, Yi Huaxian, who is the director of women in the village agricultural production cooperative, said: "Chairman Mao said that men and women are equal, and female members should also work, and their work points should be as much as male members." In this way, Yi Huaxian led women and male members to plow fields and transplant rice seedlings together, which mobilized the enthusiasm of women in the village and increased the crop yield by 30%.

1955, the publication of Guizhou Democratic Women's Federation published the article "Cooperatives implement equal pay for equal work for men and women", commending Baozi Village, the first village to implement equal pay for equal work for men and women. After reading the article, Mao Zedong personally approved: "It is recommended that all townships and social organizations generally follow suit." . Later, Mao Zedong put forward the slogan "Women hold up half the sky", which quickly resounded throughout the country.