Xi says women should "create a new trend of family" in china amid birth rate drop

China's leader Xi Jinping this week called on women in the country to "create a new trend of family" to help curb an aging population amid a record drop in the birth rate,

according to state media. WHAT HE'S SAYING: "Doing a good job in women's work is not only related to women's own development but also related to the harmony of families

and society, as well as national development and progress," Xi said during an event in Beijing on Monday, per state media. * "It is necessary to strengthen guidance on young

people's perspectives on marriage, childbearing and family," Xi added during the discussion with the leadership of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's All-China Women's

Federation, according to Xinhua and other state media. THOUGHT BUBBLE, via Axios' Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian: As China's population has begun to decline, raising fears of a looming

demographic crisis, China's leaders are putting pressure on women to curtail their career and educational ambitions and instead return to traditional roles in the home. * In its early

decades, the Chinese Communist Party bolstered its revolutionary credentials by emphasizing women's equality both inside and outside the home. But the CCP's own top ranks have long

been male-dominated, and in recent years Beijing has cracked down on Chinese feminists and the country's own #MeToo movement. CONTEXT: The CPP imposed a repressive one-child policy to

slow population growth in 1979, but has in recent years relaxed this and now allows couples to have three children each. GO DEEPER: China's population falls for first time in over 60

years