In India, Ivanka Trump Advocates For Businesswomen

At the opening of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, India, First Daughter Ivanka Trump delivered a speech on November 28 advocating for improved opportunities for women in business across the globe.

Trump said according to at least one study, closing the gender gap in entrepreneurship could raise the global GDP by as much as 2 percent, according to Reuters.

“We must ensure women entrepreneurs have access to capital, access to networks and mentors,” she said,” adding that women still regularly face difficulties in starting their own businesses, according to Reuters.

Trump pointed out that a Harvard Business Study found that investors gauging a candidate’s proposal would often ask men questions about the upsides of their investments, while they would ask women about the downsides.

She also said that President Donald Trump’s administration has taken numerous steps to “empower women entrepreneurs,” including expanding apprenticeship programs, increasing lending to women, and prioritizing STEM education opportunities, according to USA Today.

The majority of the 1,500 entrepreneurs that attended the 2017 summit were women, Trump commented in her speech, according to NDTV. “For the first time ever, women make up 50 percent of the people selected for this summit,” she said.

Her speech was in line with the conference’s 2017 theme of “Women First, Prosperity For All.” In the past, Trump has said women’s rights, and particularly working women’s rights, would be central to her platform and her priorities under her father’s presidency.

However, critics pointed out that Trump’s speech appeared to be hypocritical, as female workers in Chinese factories manufacturing products in the Ivanka Trump line were underpaid. Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch, said Ivanka Trump was withholding wages from women working to produce her products in China, adding that “Ivanka’s profits include the wages of these workers,” according to USA Today.

The 2017 summit is the first held in South Asia since its inception in 2010 during President Barack Obama’s administration. The initiative was created to support entrepreneurs in Muslim-majority countries by expanding capital and investment into selected communities.

Reports that the city of Hyderabad was rounding up homeless citizens and relocating them ahead of Trump’s visit hit headlines earlier in November. The city passed a two-month begging ban, according to Business Insider. A similar project was attempted ahead of a 2000 visit from President Bill Clinton. However, reports indicate the 2017 roundup of 6,000 homeless people is much larger in scale.