Ivanka Trump calls on G-20 leaders to prioritize women empowerment

OSAKA, Jun 29, 2019, Kyodo. U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka on Saturday called on leaders of the Group of 20 countries to continue to prioritize women’s empowerment, citing the benefits female participation in the workforce will have on the global economy and in other areas, reported the Kyodo.

“We believe that women’s inclusion in the economy is not solely a social justice issue, which of course it is. It’s also smart economic and defense policy,” said Ivanka, who was invited to speak at a side event of the G-20 summit in Osaka.

She said that if women participated in labor markets on an equal footing to men, global annual gross domestic product could rise between $12 trillion and $28 trillion by 2025. She also said research shows that states with higher female participation are less likely to use violence or military force to resolve international conflict.

“We must continue to prioritize women’s economic empowerment and place it at the very heart of the G-20 agenda,” the adviser to the U.S. president said. “This is a legacy worth fighting for and a future we can be proud to leave to our children.”

During the event, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who chairs the two-day summit from Friday, received reports on activities and recommendations on the issue from groups such as a U.N. entity dedicated to gender equality and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Abe said the G-20 will establish a follow-up system to review at the leaders’ level the steps taken by members to achieve a goal agreed in 2014 of reducing the gender gap in labor force participation by 25 percent by 2025.

The special event, opened to the media, was held to add momentum to women’s empowerment, seen as essential for achieving sustainable economic growth, according to the Japanese government.