Ivanka says developing countries must do more to empower women to get US aid

WASHINGTON: 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 said on Friday.

Ivanka, 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. 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 percent of your population, and in fact have barriers against them to realising that potential.” Ivanka in 2017 launched a women’s entrepreneurship fund with the World Bank and 13 other countries, followed this year by a $50 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 gain access to credit.