Netizens Blast Ivanka Trump for Urging Developing Countries to Empower Women in Return for US Aid

US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka has said that developing countries seeking to do business with the United States must do more to empower women, as she put in an appearance on Friday at a panel during the IMF/World Bank annual meetings, reported Reuters.

As she outlined initiatives aimed at bolstering the economic status of women she urged countries to take greater action towards granting women better access to the workforce, education and legal protections.

“We in the United States think about our development assistance through the lens of achieving the goal for countries of self-reliance,” she told the audience.

“And you cannot achieve self-reliance and the ability of a country to become a trading partner if you are not fully realizing the potential of 50 percent of your population, and in fact have barriers against them to realizing that potential,” said the US president’s daughter.

In October 2017 Ivanka Trump launched a women’s entrepreneurship fund with the World Bank and 13 other countries to offer over $1 billion in financing to support women-led businesses, while working with governments to address legal and regulatory barriers that stifle women entrepreneurs.

This initiative was followed up in 2019 by a $50 million project urging countries to amend laws that bar women from owning property, using transportation, accessing legal structures and gaining access to credit.

However, the efforts come amid criticism by civil rights groups over disempowerment of women at home and abroad, as the Trump administration has backed curtailing abortion rights for women in the US and limiting contraception requirements in health insurance.

Netizens were swift to react to the statements made by Ivanka Trump, with many posting critical comments on Twitter, emphasizing the “gender imbalance” in the American Congress and claiming the Trump administration has “worked against equal pay and womens’ reproductive rights”.