Ivanka Trump said Wednesday at a women’s summit that she’s worried her six-year-old daughter is a little too self-assured.
‘I have six-year-old daughter and I’m actually trying to get rid of some of her confidence,’ she said of Arabella, the eldest of her three children with husband Jared Kushner, with a laugh.
She immediately said that she is ‘inspired’ by Arabella and appreciates her young daughter’s ‘purity.’
Ivanka Trump said Wednesday at a women’s summit that she’s worried her six-year-old daughter is a little too self-assured
The White House adviser and daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump was compelled to talk about her own daughter during a panel in India on women in the workforce that Cherie Blair, wife of the former British prime minister Tony Blair, also sat on.
Moderator K.T. Rama Rao, Government of Telenga, Minister for IT, had noted that all four of the women on the stage were mothers of daughters. Rao said is also the father of a daughter.
The local government official prompted all of the women to speak about the lessons they’re teaching their own children about gender equality.
In his question to Ivanka, he asked her what’s she’s been telling her daughter about ‘confidence.’
The 36-year-old business owner and author suggested her Mandarin-speaking, computer-coding daughter has an air of arrogance she’s working to address.
‘But I think the purity of a young girl and the lack of assumption around what her role is, what she should do, what she shouldn’t do, what she should like, what she shouldn’t like, the longer we can preserve that, the better,’ Ivanka said.
‘I have six-year-old daughter and I’m actually trying to get rid of some of her confidence,’ she said of Arabella, the eldest of her three children with husband Jared Kushner, with a laugh
Trump added: ‘So I’m always inspired by my daughter because she makes me realize how many ingrained biases even I have that I don’t realize that I’m accidentally putting on one of my children, my sons or my daughters.
‘So I think, look at our smallest children and see the world as much like they see it as humanly possible.
‘And hopefully Arabella grows up in, in a world where she’s never told she can’t do something because of her gender.
She immediately said that she is ‘inspired’ by Arabella (pictured) and appreciates her young daughter’s ‘purity.’
‘Certainly she’ll never be told that by her mother.’
The Wednesday discussion at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit centered on obstacles that women face in their workplaces and what can be done to eliminate them.
Blair asserted in her opening remarks: ‘If were going to do anything in this world, we’ve got to do something about men.’
Taken aback, Rao, the event’s moderator, told her, ‘Alright.’
The audience laughing and clapping, Blair replied, ‘And that includes you.’
‘Men need to understand that women are their equals. Men need to understand that women do face obstacles that they don’t,’ said Blair, the founder of a women’s foundation. ‘Men need to understand that they need to do their share, as well.’
Sweet: Arabella can be seen in the clip singing in Mandarin and reciting ancient Chinese poetry in a confident tone, displaying her impressive language skills
Blair said when a man says he is married, he is seen as responsible and reliable. When a woman says she is, married she is viewed as difficult because she could get pregnant and likely has other familial responsibilities.
‘So it’s a completely different mindset. And unless young men…understand that and und the difficulties that their wives and their sisters and yes, their mothers, are experiencing, then we’re never gonna change this dynamic,’ she said to clapping.
Taking her turn with the mic, Ivanka said of Blair’s observations, ‘So much of what was said was deeply inspiring and I agree with wholeheartedly.’
Trump added: ‘So I’m always inspired by my daughter because she makes me realize how many ingrained biases even I have that I don’t realize that I’m accidentally putting on one of my children, my sons or my daughters
Trump used her remarks to re-frame ‘women’s issues’ as ‘critical issues,’ pointing out that half the world’s population are women.
‘So the role of strong male voices in this conversation…is very important,’ she commented.
Women are working, supporting their families and providing unpaid care, she assessed.
‘These cultural, social work institutions were not set up with the assumption that there would be two parents in the workforce, so we just have to fundamentally change things,’ she said.
Later in he the panel, Ivanka acknowledged that one parent in a marriage or the other is at times going to have to put their career on hold for their partner to take advantage of opportunities to prosper.
She agreed that there has to be a conversation ‘about who’s going to step back, if somebody is going to step back.’
‘But I do think we have to do a better job of recognizing that all women are working women, whether they’re working inside the home raising their families or whether they’re working in a professional capacity. And I think we have to celebrate that decision either way,’ she said. ‘But we need to create an environment in which people can make the decisions that are right for their family.
‘So, destigmatizing men, making the choice to do that, but also not disincentivizing or not frustrating women who chose that as the right path for themselves as well,’ she said to applause.
Ivanka was in Hyderabad, India on Tuesday and Wednesday for the annual tech conference that boasts a participation rate of 52.5 percent women this year.
The theme of the gathering is ‘Women First, Prosperity For All,’ an agenda the president’s daughter has been aggressively promoting.