Crowd hisses, boos at Ivanka Trump at Berlin summit

Berlin, April 25 (IANS) US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka arrived in Berlin on Tuesday to attend an international summit to discuss women entrepreneurship, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel and was booed and hissed at by the crowd.

On her first international trip as an official representative of the US, the first daughter was put on the spot about her father's attitude towards women, Politico reported.

She was booed and hissed at by the crowd, and grilled by the moderator about what, exactly, her role is in President Donald Trump's administration.

Ivanka Trump was participating in a panel discussion on women's empowerment and entrepreneurship at the W-20, a summit of G-20 countries aimed at promoting women's workforce participation and equality.

She was one of eight participants, including Merkel, Queen M?xima of the Netherlands and International Monetary Fund director Christine Lagarde.

The event opened with Ivanka explaining her role in the White House.

"You are first daughter -- German audience not familiar -- what is your role -- to whom are you represented? Your father, the American people, or your business," asked Miriam Meckel, editor of German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche.

"Well, certainly not the latter, and I am rather unfamiliar with this role as well, as it is quite new to me," replied Ivanka, a top adviser to her father.

"It has been a little under 100 days, but it is just been a remarkable, an incredible journey."

"So it's very early for me. I'm listening, I'm learning, I'm defining the ways in which I think I'll be able to have impact," she added.

The audience interrupted Ivanka with hissing and boos during a discussion on paid leave when she began describing her father as an advocate for women.

"That is something I'm very proud of my father's advocacy, long before he came into the presidency, he championed this in the primaries. He's been a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive," Ivanka said before the crowd began reacting negatively.

Trump has been criticised over his attitude to women, especially after a tape of him making obscene remarks was released during the presidential campaign last year.

But Ivanka said that although she had "heard the criticism from the media and that has been perpetuated", she did not recognise her father in the description and nor would the "thousands" of women he had employed over the years.

"He encouraged me and enabled me to thrive. I grew up in a house where there were no barriers to what I could accomplish," she added.

Ivanka also credited her father's administration for hiring women in important roles.

"The team basically going through the vetting and hiring process -- six out of eight of those people are women," she said.

Merkel had personally invited Ivanka on her first international trip since her father assumed office to discuss business, foreign policy and other issues of importance between the US and Germany.