Washington may be racked by divisions, but Ivanka Trump's women's empowerment push gets bipartisan support
At a time when American politics and the society at large have found themselves deeply divided, President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka has taken an initiative that has seen bipartisan backing. The 38-year-old senior advisor to the president has spearheaded a global women’s initiative and it has received support from two senators -- a Republican and Democrat -- who are leading legislative efforts in favor of the cause.
On Wednesday, February 12, Ivanka announced at an event in the State Department that Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) are behind the effort.
The proposed law would see economic empowerment of women becoming a priority for American foreign policy and ensure that the pet project of the president’s daughter -- Women’s Global Development Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP) -- continued beyond the Trump administration.
The legislation would also see the setting up of an Office of Women’s Empowerment at the State Department. The announcement on the bill came on the one-year anniversary of the White House launch of the W-GDP.
A new Office of Women's Empowerment
The event on February 12 was hosted by Ivanka and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Other top administrative officials like National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and the president’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, were present on the occasion.
According to a report in Daily Mail which also had a contribution from the Associated Press, Ivanka called the legislation a “long overdue goal”. Before arriving for the event, she also tweeted, saying: “Happy Birthday W-GDP!”
The Graham-Shaheen bill has to pass both the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate.
Ivanka also announced on the occasion that the initiative had benefited 12M women around the world in the year since its launch in February last year.
Nearly 2M women have taken part in US-backed workforce training and development programs and over 9,000 women-led businesses have got more than $1.6B in American government-backed loans.