Developing
countries that want to do business with the United States must do more
to empower women and give them better access to the workforce, education
and legal protections, White House adviser Ivanka Trump says.
Trump,
the daughter of President Donald Trump, outlined initiatives to bolster
the economic status of women at a panel during the IMF/World Bank
annual meetings on Friday.
She appeared to tie future US development aid and trading relations to improvements on these issues by developing countries.
"We
in the United States think about our development assistance through the
lens of achieving the goal for countries of self-reliance," she told an
audience of hundreds.
"And you cannot achieve
self-reliance and the ability of a country to become a trading partner
if you are not fully realising the potential of 50 per cent of your
population, and in fact have barriers against them to realising that
potential."
Trump in 2017 launched a women's
entrepreneurship fund with the World Bank and 13 other countries,
followed this year by a $US50 million project that aims to reach 50
million women by 2025.
It is urging countries
to change laws that bar women from owning property, using
transportation, accessing legal structures and gaining access to credit.
These
efforts come amid criticism by civil rights groups that the Trump
administration is disempowering women at home and abroad.
The
administration has backed curtailing abortion rights for women in the
United States and limiting contraception requirements in health
insurance, and it refuses to fund agencies globally that even mention
abortion.
Ivanka Trump, the highest ranking US
administration official to speak publicly at the annual IMF/World Bank
meetings, was joined on stage by Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David
Solomon, whose bank has also launched a women's initiative called
"10,000 Women" and Ana Botin, executive chairman of Banco Santander.
World
Bank President David Malpass, appointed by Trump, and International
Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, have pledged to
focus more intensely on women's issues as they structure the future work
of the two large multilateral institutions, citing the huge potential
for economic gains for all countries.
Georgieva
on Tuesday vowed to fight for greater gender equality at the IMF and
around the world, telling a packed audience, "Buckle up. It's going to
come."
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