President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump spoke to a group of women leaders in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, insisting that more needs to be done to improve the Islamic country’s treatment of women.
“In every country, including the United States, women and girls face challenges,” Ivanka Trump said at the event, The Washington Post reported. “Saudi Arabia’s progress, especially in recent years, is very encouraging … But there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
The first daughter reportedly described herself as a “female leader within the Trump administration,” and said she wants “to help empower women in the United States and around the globe.”
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In the conservative country, women are required to cover themselves while in public, are not allowed to drive and require permission from a male guardian to travel outside their homes.
The women attending the event with Ivanka Trump were local leaders, representing the first public women-only university in Saudi Arabia and top positions within the Chamber of Commerce and business founders, the Washington Post reported.
According to the report, two female reporters were not allowed to stay beyond the introductory remarks at the event. Citing a White House official, the Post reported that the rest of the event included a discussion of the segregation of women in Saudi Arabia, the ban on women driving and guardianship laws.
President Trump has not yet publicly mentioned concerns regarding the kingdom’s human rights issues during his first foreign trip as president.
The president previously criticized Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation for accepting money from a country that mistreats women and does not tolerate the gay community.
“You talk about women and women’s rights. These are people that push gays off business — off buildings. These are people that kill women and treat women horribly, and yet you take their money,” Trump said to Clinton during a presidential debate in October.
At Sunday’s event, the president of the World Bank announced that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had together pledged $100 million to a foundation for women entrepreneurs that was first proposed by Ivanka Trump.