TOKYO: Ivanka Trump said at a Tokyo conference on women’s advancement on Friday that harassment of women in the workplace cannot be tolerated.
Ivanka spoke at the World Assembly for Women amid growing attention to sexual harassment of women in Hollywood and other industries in the US.
“All too often, our workplace culture fails to treat women with appropriate respect,” she said. “This takes many forms, including harassment which can never be tolerated.” She did not give examples.
In her speech, she also said workplaces need to make further efforts to respect women’s values and accommodate the need for balance between work and family.
Despite the increase in the percentage of women at workplaces, corporate expectations have remained “stagnant” and still operate on “a single-honor mindset” with expectations for mothers to stay home to provide fulltime care, she said.
It “disproportionately” impacts women and most likely causes them to leave jobs or curtail ambitions due to lack of affordable care for children or relatives who can help, she said, calling for innovative ways to make it easier for women to enjoy motherhood without compromising their careers.
“This isn’t a woman’s issue, it’s a family issue,” she said.
Ivanka came to Japan at the invitation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and is set to leave one day before her father arrives here Sunday.
The conference is part of Abe’s “womenomics” initiative aimed at encouraging women to join the workforce and promoting their advancement as a way to boost national economic growth.
More women have joined the labor force under the Abe government, but the majority of female workers hold part-time or non-regular jobs, while most working men have fulltime jobs.
Abe acknowledged that men think they have set the rules and tend to “think inside the box” and he feels “a pain in the heart” as he reflects on his own mindset.
“I believe women have a power to break the wall of ‘common sense’ set by men and pioneer a new era,” Abe said, adding that women have the chance to create businesses from a unique perspective.
President Donald Trump starts his first official Asia tour in Japan. Trump will play golf and talk with Abe and meet with Emperor Akihito and relatives of people abducted by North Korea.
Ivanka: Harassment of women at work cannot be tolerated
Ivanka: Harassment of women at work cannot be tolerated
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
