GES 2017: Ivanka Trump pitches policy formulation to back women workforce

Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of and advisor to US President Donald Trump, today batted for the formulation of policies that support greater participation of women in the workforce.

She even referred to technology that can be used to allow women to work from kitchens and help reduce the gender gap.

"I think it's incredibly important that policies support modern families... We need to start thinking about ways to support the modern workforce and the modern reality in the household. I think technology is a great driver," she said.

She was speaking at a session on innovation in workforce development on the second day of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES).

Ivanka suggested that policymakers need to devise ways to support the "modern workforce and the modern reality in the household".

"Technology is reducing barriers to starting businesses, it's creating flexibility... Technology offers tremendous opportunities to women and women entrepreneurs," she pointed out.

Stating that there is a need to fuel skill training and workforce development, Ivanka said it is necessary to align what is being taught in the classroom with economic realities.

Ivanka, 36, a businesswoman and a fashion designer too, said efforts should be made to get more women into male-dominated professions to create an equitable balance in the workforce.

"I am incredibly fearful that when we look at where future work is going if women continue to represent only 13 per cent of engineers in the United States or continue to represent only 24 per cent of computer science professionals, the gender wage gap is actually going to grow in years to come.

"It is something we need to address, it is something that the administration in the US is very very focused on," she stressed.