at the capitol to commemorate victims of the holocaust. ♪ >> c-span's "washington journal." live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up wednesday morning, new york democratic congressman tom swayze, vice chair of the problem solvers caucus, discusses the up. >> coming budget -- upcoming budget deadline and tax reform. then republican congressman tim murphy talks about federal mental health and substance abuse policies. and bradford fitch, congressional management foundation president and ceo on health care options for members of congress. be sure to watch c-span's "washington journal" live at seven a.m. eastern wednesday morning. join the discussion. >> ivanka trump joined german chancellor angela merkel and other women leaders at a conference in bear-in to talk about women's -- in berlin to talk about women's argument be in the economy and female

empower m. this is an hour and a half. >> is so good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to berlin to this panel with eight inspiring women who have joined us today to discuss how to scale up women's entrepreneurship. our question is what key factors would promote women's entrepreneurship and what barriers do we need to overcome. i'm very honored and happy to host this panel with the apartments who have just been introduced -- participants who have just been introduced to you. so we can immediately jump into the discussion on the future of women in business and economics. and i would like to start with you, your majesty, if this is fine? some problem? we are trying to do the translation, do the talk in english and german, and you have the translation on your ear pods that you could find on your

chair. so first question to you, your majesty. i'd like to start with you because i you have been the u.n. secretary-general's special advocate for inclusive finance for development since 2009, and you are the honorary chairman of the g20 global partnership for financial inclusion dedicated to financial inclusion. is that still the biggest challenge in the process of including women in business, that they are not financially included? >> well, first of all, let me tell you how happy i am to be here and that the chancellor's actually followed this issue of bringing women into the g20, because i think it's extremely important. [applause] first of all, let me say that there's no silver bullet in actually trying to get women more economically empower asked

having more entrepreneurship within women. and also there's no size fits all. it's not the same amount of policies you're actually going to have in the netherlands or in drc or in colombia or pakistan. at least in my travels, that's what i have experienced. financial inclusion one of the very big stumble blocks, i would say, but not the only one. financially inclusion is in combination with many other issues that need to be addressed so that really women can become economically empowered. and i would like to say that this is an issue that is universal. it's true, africa, latin america, asia, but also in my country, the netherlands. i mean, only one-third of all the interprize are actually -- enterprises are actually led by women, so we have work to do. also poverty in some households has the face of women, so we really need to do a lot of work, can and we are doing and we are advancing. but still a lot of work has to be done. what do i see as the challenges

apart from financial inclusion? i have to say the improvement of business environment in general for both men and women is extremely important. because if it's easier to do business in a given country, it's going to be easier for a woman to do business in that country. so i think that, you know, general environment for doing business is extremely important. specifically to financial inclusion, i would say there are really laws and regulations that are impeding like sometimes they're unable to open an account, and that's certainly true for many countries. sometimes they are unable to hold property, inherit property. sometimes there are issues of customs, sometimes they cannot get out of the house alone so, therefore, they cannot just go and make a payment in a branch bank, etc. but there are also issues in terms of financial, that make the financial inclusion more difficult which are related to the caring of the family. they have to be -- they have less freedom of movement. they have to stay a lot more at home. they have to also issues in

terms of how do they manage the cash. they have to make up for the necessities of a household in terms of health, nutrition, education, water, energy -- let's not forget that as well. so we need to factor these issues in, because those are very clear to the needs of the women. and we also have issues of literacy. literacy in general, but also digital literacy which is extremely important in the future. now, we all know that most of the credit that's been done is mostly -- [inaudible] lending. so if a woman doesn't have a land title, she will have no credit. if she doesn't have credit history, she will have no credit. so these issues need to be addressed. if a woman cannot travel easily, she will not be able to access markets. if she doesn't travel easily again, she cannot open an account or even build up a network, network of people that

will actually set up an enterprise with. and another very important issue that we've found in financial inclusion, entrepreneurship in women around the globe has been women do not have an id, an identification. it's very difficult for them to open an account. so i think it's extremely important to also address these issues. >> so we have a lot of, a lot of issues, but they are all related to financial inclusion, and that's the reason, as i understand you, why you focus so much on that. let's stick a little bit with this question, and i would like to turn to you, min structure freeland. minister freeland. about two months ago your prime minister, trudeau, and president trump launched a new initiative to challenge women business openers. but i have to ask in the year 2017, do we really need more councils, or do we need practical advice and progress? >> well, thank you for the question. and let me start by --

[speaking french] [applause] >> i know there's no translation for french, but we're a bilingual country, and i do want to start by really thanking chancellor merkel for inviting us all here and for having the courage to put this issue so firmly on the g20 agenda. it's really important, and kudos. it's a great question, and you're right that a strong view that canada had and that i know ivanka really championed in the white house was that as part of the first meeting between prime minister i trudeau and president trump we wanted there to be an element of what we felt was a really shared agenda between the president and the prime minister which was championing women entrepreneurs. and i think it was one of the most successful elements of our summit, this meeting of the

canada/u.s. women's business council. look, i used to be a journalist. i'm familiar with the criticism of why do you need more councils, you need to have action. and i agree with that, of course, we need action. but you do need a group of actors in order to move forward. and i'm very proud of the group of canadian and u.s. businesswomen who came together. we're working very -- they are working very hard. the idea is that the initiative would strongly come from them with support from our government, and this is a group of very powerful, very dynamic, very creative women leaders. one of the issues that came up during that meeting was women's access to capital. and we've been talking about it very much in a developing world context, but one of the members of the council is a canadian woman entrepreneur, and she said, you know what? it's just harder for a woman out there. even in canada, we like to think

of ourselves as an enlightened country. our prime minister is a feminist. he appointed a 50/50 gender-balanced cabinet. yea for justin trudeau. [applause] but, you know, as the queen said, we are very aware that, you know, we don't have a female leader. i accept that, chancellor. [laughter] [applause] touche. [laughter] so, you know, as queen maxima said, we are very aware in canada, i think in the united states too, that, of course, supporting women, women entrepreneur, girls' education, the developing world is a great development tool, but we also have a lot of work still to do at home. and i very much believe that this canada/u.s. women's business council is going to take a real leadership role on both fronts. >> what we are also partly missing you, your majesty

alluded to that, referring to women not having ids, for example, and we're missing figures and facts, and i would like to ask you, madame lagarde, from a macroeconomic standpoint, do the numbers on an international scale tell a frustrating or a motivating story? >> both. [laughter] >> would you embellish on that a little bit, please? >> promise. [laughter] >> thank you. >> well, i want to say dank shein, mercy bow cue, thank you so much to the chancellor. because the first w-20 that took place was two years ago in turkey. to have it now in germany under your leadership at the highest level of the country and under joint initiatives, as i understand, to have it promoted as one of the key items of the g20 agenda is fantastic. so thank you very, very much. [applause]

and in addition to money that is needed for any initiatives, and you've alluded to that, we also need not just actors, we need activists. because to come back to your question, it's a really disappointing situation that we're facing. and at the same time, it can be really ebb energizing and -- energizing and exciting because there's so much room for progress. you mentioned the 30% women entrepreneurs. well, in low income countries it's each lower than that. -- even lower than that. as soon as you move to the medium-sized enterprises, it goes down to 20%. and if you look at how much access they have to financing, bank account loans, it's about two-fifths of that 20% over 40 employees. so it's a really ridiculously small amount that can have access to financing. so that's thurm one. number two -- number one. number two, the point i would like to make in response to your

question is that it's an economic no-brainer from a macro point of view because women's empowerment and participation in the economy are a triple bonus. bonus number one, they boost growth, and everybody around the world wants growth, wants jobs. if you were to close the gender gap in the united states, the economy is automatically bigger by 5%. you do the same thing in india, you're talking about 23%. if you do the same thing in japan, you're talking about 9%. so there is in all societies whether they are low incomes, emerging or advanced, there is a bonus to be had by having women join the economy. that's bonus number one -- >> [inaudible] be the brain in not taking advantage of the no-brainer? >> let me get to the other two. by the same token, you reduce inequality. you reduce the gender gap, you reduce inequality. it is demonstrated empirically

now by anybody, except a few e erratics -- [laughter] that if you reduce inequality, you have more growth. and it is more sustainable. so that's also critically important. third bonus, you have a more diversified economy that has more exports, more trade with each other, and it's really also a growth booster. so from those three points of view, it's critically important to bring women to the table. why don't they come? well, i think we have something to do about it. and that's the energizing part. i was, i will be activist for a we could if you'll allow me. -- second if you'll allow me. there are at the moment some big investors who are saying to the companies which they're invested, give us the numbers. tell us, what is the gender difference between salaries at the same level, and a lot of them are saying, oh, we're doing so much already, it's okay, you know? we are head anything the right direction. no -- heading in the right direction. no, give us the numbers and then

we can measure, and then we can move forward. [applause] >> maybe we stick with the numbers for a moment because there are studies, there is research that companies having women on boards and in executive management perform financially better than those who don't. >> true. and we're an example. we have 40% of our executive management team are women, 30% of the board are women, almost 30% are also people of color. and that makes a difference because the conversation is different. and to even go back to something christine just said, i do think this is an importance to councils coming together because it's difficult -- i'll speak from a financial institution. when you're trying to make traditions such as loans, as

queen maxima just raised, you need to think about how to derisk something. that means syndicating that loss, coming together with other financial institutions. the piece that ivanka trump and jim kim put out in the s.p. speaks to that creating a funding of sorts. but the financial institutions, i think, are more prepared than ever because we see the kind of growth, the kind of opportunity that ms. lagarde just spoke about. and, of course, success begets success. and just in the united states alone, we've seen enormous growth with women in small business. they are more reliable, they will put more money back into the community, and for those reasons alone, it's important. but without the council, without the discussion, without the discussion about the practical issues of derisking or syndicating both loss and profit, then it's very difficult

to think that this is just going to take off. so although that can seem cumbersome, without it, it's not going to happen. >> mrs. trump, you're op-ed in the f.t. was just mentioned. i would like to take a minute to clarify something. you're the first daughter of the united states, and you're also an assistant to the u.s. president. as part of the audience, especially the german audience is not that familiar with the concept of a first daughter. i'd like to ask you -- [laughter] what is your role and whom are you representing, your father as the president of the united states, the american people or your business? >> well, certainly not the latter, and i amarather unfamiliar -- am rather unfamiliar with this role as well, as it is quite new to me. it has been a little under a hundred days, but it has just

been a remarkable and incredible journey. so, you know, as an entrepreneur and as an individual prior to this in the private sector, i cared very much about empowering women in the workplace. and the opportunity to have an elevated platform, to be able to sit here on this stage -- and thank you, chancellor, for your very gracious invitation. i am humbled to be here with so many formidable leaders to engage in dialogue, to learn, to bring the advice, to bring the knowledge back to the united states, back to both my father and the president. and hopefully, that will bring about incremental, positive change, and that is my goal. so this is very early for me. i'm listening, i'm learning, i'm defining the ways in which i think that i'll be able to have impact. i'm seeking the counsel, to use your word, of informed and thoughtful women and men.

and i'm really striving to think about how best to empower women in the economy both domestically and across the global because it's all interrelated. so it's been, it's been wonderful to date, and i have no doubt that coming out of this trip i'll be all the more informed. >> you wrote an op-ed in the financial times today, you wrote: we know what works, regarding women in business. and if we know what works, first question, why don't we do it? and the second question, are you sure that what works for you as a first daughter will also work for every other woman in the world? >> no. i think we represent 50% of the population, so there is no one size fits all when you think about women in the workplace or women as job creators. and then you have the cultural overlay which differs from country to country, from region to region, within countries. there are enormous problems. i feel fortunate in america that those problems are less than in other areas of the world when we

think about gender inequality, but we still have formidable problems in our own right. when you think about the fact that 30% of u.s. privately-owned businesses are women businesses, that leaves tremendous potential for growth and for engagement. of that 30%, only 16% of those businesses have employees beyond the owner. so when you think about the potential women have both to expand as entrepreneurs and to become more robust employers with our economy, it's incredibly exciting. there's a lot of wood to chop, and we're not right there. we're not there yet. and i think one of the interesting things is the problems are identifiable. we know what they look like, and they're the same across the globe, just with varying degrees of severity. the solutions and the tactical

means to get to the right outcome will differ. and i think one of the great opportunities we have is as we travel and as we talk to knowledgeable and informed people is to find out what works in their countries and cultures. i know that chancellor merkel just this past march, you passed an equal pay legislation to promote transparency and to try to finally narrow that gender pay gap. and that's something we should all be looking at, to see the efficacy of that policy as it gets rolled out. so there's a robust, dynamic and ever-moving discussion. it's a political discussion, it's policy-oriented as we think about paid leave. sadly, the united states is one of the only countries in the world, the only developed country in the world that doesn't have a paid leave policy for the benefit of families. so that is something i'm very,

very proud of my father's advocacy. long before he came into the presidency, but during the campaign including in the primaries he's been a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive. in the new reality of -- >> you hear the reaction from the audience, so i need to address one more point. some attitudes towards women your father has publicly displayed in former times might leave one questioning whether he's such an empower for women. how do you relate to that or are things changing? what's your comment on that? >> i've certainly heard the criticism from the media, and that's been perpetuated. but i know from personal experience and i think the thousands of women who have worked with and for my father for decades when he was in the private sector are a testament to his belief and solid conviction in the potential of

women and their ability to do the job as well as any man. so i think in my personal experience -- and you were asking me about my role as daughter and also adviser -- as a daughter, i can speak on a very personal level knowing that he encouraged me and enabled me to thrive. i grew up in a house where there was no barriers the what i could accomplish beyond my own perseverance and my own tenacity. and i don't take that lightly as a parent now myself. that's not an easy thing to do, and he did that, and he provided that for us. there was no difference from my and my brothers. and i think as a business leader you saw that, and as the president you will absolutely see that. >> we will be curious in watching. thank you. you are an example how a woman can run, successfully run a business. you inherited and took over a longstanding family-owned business. do you think you would have

become an entrepreneur either way, regardless of your family history? >> i don't think so. i have to be honest. i'll switch into german now because chancellor merkel and i i agreed that we are on german grounds, and we are germans -- >> translator: we will speak german. before i got into management i work in the company and it made sense. cuesta women get specific

attention at your company to be empowered, accelerated in whatever way? >> they say this is revolutionary in germany. every two years you can specify how much you want to work you can work remotely but we also offer the same things two men. i want to say clearly we only, we have a chance if we take the men along. so we have couples in our company. there are many who basically have shifts that they coordinate so that they will you work 60 to 80 percent for a few years and i think of the children or the animals or i take care of older people and then they change around and we do the same thing with companies.

for example we have an exchange of opinion would basically can have adjusted shifts. so have to work with the men, not against them. >> that is a good statement. we are an all-female panel. we are an exemption so something very interesting. but still it is about women and men to take the task together. and you were named social entrepreneur of the year in 2011 in africa by the world economic forum and were most recently among forbes 50 most greatest leaders. what is your motivation for becoming entrepreneur? >> thank you so much for the kind question. my motivation is solving problems. we have got lots of intractable problems around the world.

when it comes to some of the problems we see around data collection. that the collaboration with my friends and colleagues at the time led to creating -- a crowdsourcing platform. also an organization that has since gone on to create more types of software and also to create other companies in kenya. the motivation is really solving problems. be at the information flow problem and then later, with handling problems around conductivity. where we have issues around electricity and reliability. that is truly, that is the basis of my motivation and i think just to go back to the question of problems. if we look at some of the emerging problems right now that are of a global nature, one of those is climate change.

and that affects many people around the world and unfortunately, the people who bear the brunt of conflict of changes in weather patterns. be it farmers or people in the informal economy. that burden is carried by women. if we can just paint a picture if you see a visual of a woman carrying a child on their back. and having to flee from one area because of lack of resources. lack of access to water, education, so these are really big problems that not only require us to have global intervention but also to bring to bear the innovation that we are seeing actually in the developing countries. does a fantastic company called farm drive.

which is supported by -- and others. and even companies like safari on that i'm looking at these problems. in figuring out how they are responding to his problems through business. the question for us today here is what are the concrete practical things we can do to shore up the international partitions that we need so when that woman is carrying that child and flee from a conflict, is there a support system where she is going to are there financial systems that she can tap into? identity systems that she can tap into? is she going into places where there is an ecosystem that can help them to succeed? because a lot of them also entrepreneurs. >> the living conditions you are eluding to our different in

different parts of the world. if we take a look at germany, one of the leading industries and economies in the world. madam chancellor, we did interview last year together. he told me the picture yourself managing a cafc or restaurant. which i found very inspiring and interesting. turned in preparation for this panel i asked myself is the first female chancellor of such an entrepreneurial spirit why the silicates that only one of the 10 starts in germany is founded by a woman? >> well, just like i was not able to do this until now with a start, many others will have the same experience because they are still many barriers. but first let me return the things that will express you. i want to thank the german

women's council and all the female entrepreneurs who have arranged this event of civil society and arrange the panel so can take place in germany. i think it is very important. many parts of society, young people, women included but the fact that women represent more than 50 percent of our society and the fact that have a separate -- of course also in germany we can say that the female entrepreneurs are not represented as a majority. we want to encourage people as is the case in the developing countries, therefore it was a very interesting experience when i visited the american president donald trump and i observed how the canadian prime

minister had taken place and i think it was a very interesting discussion with female entrepreneurs at that time. and it showed what progress could be made. i think that during my visit he did something similar. that we talked about skills and training of young people. how can our companies get better and this combination of skills and then also the courage to start a business is something that can add up. this must apply the same to developing countries as it does to our advanced countries. this is the new model and we have a role model as -- can speak from her own experience and can offer much that shows how family and work can be contactable so it is important. it is very important to me.

one reason why ivanka trump is here is the idea which is also currently being discussed with how can we improve access to financial means? we want to improve that it is something that we want to have introduced to the political process and perhaps we can have an answer later on because i have an idea. that the process we had the idea of closing the gap between the genders with respect to work. we have about 50 percent of the women that work in 7476 percent of men, it has to be closed and as christine lagarde said we have to have the impact on growth. there we have the question of entrepreneurial ship. and we know from micro loans and nothing is as successful as credit to women.

because they are much closer to the family life and their development actually impacts families much more.and so we had to consider how can we get from government support to teach from two actual loans and credit. this is an area where we have to make efforts both in our advanced countries and in our developing countries. if you look at the interest rates, and development banks it shows that rates are so high that no one can get loans. especially women. so the idea is to establish a special facility to provide access to women. especially in developing countries because credit worthiness has been proven by the microcredit was better for women, they were lower because women thought better about

that. could we say something about the special facility. the special facility should mean that we consider looking for countries among the nation's and i think germany must participate. we invited the country canada, united states, and some private sources with her they would contribute and that we would have that and the world bank and then have the possibility because of the loan capability to leverage it. for example 20 million becomes 200 or 200 and become 2 billion and then we can work with that and it can be made available to women in the developing countries. we are trying to discuss it with all of the other participants and if we have a good approach today than we have made major progress.

[applause] >> when you like to comment on this? >> or think. i think it would be a really big first death and i think your point about microcredit is actually quite apropos i think. and really encouraging is that there are african women in kenya and other areas are creating companies. an example is paris. in kenya with her cofounder who created a company called farm drive. they do alternative scoring. by creating a profile of farmers and writing credit to those farmers. we are starting to see the creation of second generation and third generation enterprises on the basis of financial technology systems like the ones that the queen supported. the first sort of base platform on which some of these services are being created.

it is very encouraging. and i hope some of that fun can also be provided for supporting innovation and technology. i think innovation and technology can help to accelerate the inclusion of women and making it not just transactional inclusion but also transformational. and helping to lift more people out of poverty by making them more wealthy. >> i think this is a very important point as we think towards not only the present but the future. and to look at the role of technology that it is playing in our lives. we cannot go online, we live online. and yet women, while this provides tremendous opportunity for the upside, there is also a challenge that exist today. -- we look across the globe in c1.7 billion women do not have

access to a smart phone. and you see that as a deterrent for them fully participating in the economy of present as well as the economy of the future. plus you think about the role of skills-based education. and this is something that i was very excited to hear from chancellor merkel and her team of incredible entrepreneurs from germany that she went to the us in conjunction with some remarkable entrepreneurs are on to really discuss the growth of vocational education and skill based training. it really impacts this next generation of women and girls. it is critical to focus on that role of them and the fact that women's participation in stem fields, science technology engineering and math is moving in the wrong direction. despite the fact that we think about the future, so many of the highest paying most lucrative jobs are coming in

that arena. you see the divided a corporate level and leadership level. just in terms of the number of students graduating with those degrees.for women in the united states, in a field of computer science the numbers have gone from the low 30s to now the low 20s over the course of a little over a decade. so that is something that we really have to think about how to reverse their message in, education, engaging girls in stem fields much younger and integrating them into the curriculum in a modern and updated way. that inspires and engages them. that is something that has become a huge priority for the administration and it is something that we are very focused on. [applause] >> do you allow me to pay tribute to the chancellor first and if you want to transition to digital i would like to follow up with juliana rotich was saying. yes? thank you. i would like to bring policies

micro and macro together. on the policy front the announcement of the setting up of the women entrepreneurs fund is fantastic. i think it doesn't go without policies. and i am known in germany for complaining about the surplus of germany. okay. [laughter] i know that. [laughter] i really want to pay tribute to the chancellor for the spending. the public spending in childcare centers and the efforts that have been put into the budget for that. [applause] now you can include former and current female and family ministers. >> yes, of course. female ministers included of course.follow up on juliana rotich! i think it is a important move in the digitally want this to touch on. because the real study that she is explaining to us brings

together the private sector that you just mentioned.but also the central bank. this is how the story goes. correct me if i get that wrong. the central bank realized suddenly that the number of microloans were massive between 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. in the morning. in other words, using the system which essentially mixing banking telecommunications together. i found out that there was massive microcredit taken out at the time of the day. why was that? because the women who were the street retailers were actually taking out microcredit at that point in time in order to pay the wholesaler. they were calling me little driver who would actually take the vegetable and fruit to the corner where they work. in the meantime they were looking after the family. sometimes fetching water, sometimes looking after the kids to make sure they went to school. so that exit same as everybody had been paid, the wholesaler,

the writer, they can go on the street corner, do their business and at the end of the day they would reimburse the microcredit that they had at that time of the day. now, where the micro and macro go together is that the central bank was able to identify those movements. identify the women who were doing the business and to build a credit history that that allowed them to access to much better financing. and that is a fantastic story of how digital connection can be leveraged to move financing for micro to something much bigger. it is a fantastic kenyan story. [applause] >> can you relate to that? >> definitely. and kenya we started rolling out -- and all of the regulatory challenges that they brought. we were really working with a lot of countries trying to change those rules and regulations to make digital mobile banking finance possible. and like you said, it is extremely important especially

for women with great potential. because women like you very well mentioned, they have other realities. sometimes you have to stay at home. they have much more need for privacy. for example, the much more prone to theft. they need to keep their money away from the husband and other family members so they can actually, you're laughing but they have to pay the school fees. they have to pay the next doctor's bills. and this is not money that should be spent on frugality's. and it is extremely important for women to keep, to have their own safe place to keep their money. and also to build credit history. when the mobile financial service that this woman actually pays and handles in your case, 10,000 shillings every day. 50,000 shillings every day. this woman can get a working loan of easy 50,000 shillings. which before was not possible. she can even start then building on and actually having insurance.

because the issue is not so much getting people out of poverty but keeping them out of poverty. because one drought, one flood, that can happen in north and you and it is all back to zero. so it is extremely important today given the potential to really make it a reality for women. but she mentioned two things. one is connectivity. and ms. trump mentioned as well. not only do they have access to mobile phones, when they do, the phone is actually less marked phone and when they do they actually use it less. so we really need to. >> guest: the mobile network operators to see how we can actually give the for example, bundles with husband and wife and they both get the equal type of phone. and they all get the equal type of data. there is a great example of that in north iraq. then there's also the issue of last mile.there has to be --

connectivity for women is not an election and work it is a source of information. a way to make payments, a way to save, a way to get informed about vaccinations. it is extremely important. even cm projects are paying solar panels on a weekly basis. what they're saving on kerosene to actually through the mobile phone. and it has only been made possible through mobile phones. that is one issue, productivity. the second issue is most mobile network operators do not even know how many women they have as clients. they don't even know actually what, they do not even have women as a special segment. i think that we really need to be much more customer centric. because there are a lot of mobile bank accounts around in the world, the usage is a big issue. it has to do with digital literacy. the products and not really catered to women. so giving a special service from three to 5 o'clock in the

morning is extremely important. to thomas for example, not just a savings account that when they get harvest to really basically advertise. now you can say, you start planting again. so that you can have an increase in yield. it is extremely important. we have to study the needs, the underlying needs of women who really design the products so they can really make use of it and have a fantastic social impact. >> that is almost unbelievable that the telecommunication providers do not know about their female clients. i would like to take this to you -- is it true or does bank of america have a specific approach to serve female customers and even develop programs or entrepreneurial approaches? >> bank of america operates mostly developed countries and of course you have big databases and it is easy to evaluate of course we use that. but just to. >> guest: the idea of microcredit.

the challenge of microcredit is not only that they are very high rates too high and they are not sustainable. the only way to diminish that is to create scale. the only way to create scale is to have the data. so big financial institutions or ngos will come together to have enough data. just use the united states as an example. there are banks and there are also what we called michael and they come out with community development financial institutions. the way they work is the banks lend to the community development financial institutions. who in turn, lend to men and women. small businesses, their credit is not as good. there probably an earlier stage. so they would not be from a regulatory perspective, bank ready. and yet because we can land to the community development

organizations, vacant land to the individual. they can do it at much lower interest rates. and this is what we need to do on a global scale. that essentially is what i think we are talking about in terms of the world bank. to be able to aggregate enough banks, enough financial institutions will lend to community development groups and then lend at lower rates along with an education piece. >> so what we are coming at this in the digital economy, the two factors you're both talking about, like financial inclusion and availability on the women's side. an literacy or digital literacy on the other side. can come together. >> not only that, i think that if you give a credit also coaching, giving women access to markets is not just one you know silver bullet.you have to give the whole combination of issues. she has to have access to financial services.at the

same time she has had some kind of coaching. some kind of access to market. her whole family situation has to also be taking care of because she will chopper enterprise at the family is having a hard time.so we need to, it is not a one issue. it has to be a concerted effort of interventions. >> we talk a bit about the lack of access to credit and the lack of access to markets that are unique barriers for women that are disproportionately adversely affecting women and in the economy at and the global economy. but there is one thing here over and over again traveling around america and increasingly as a travel for the world. lack of mentors. i think mentor ship, it is an interesting challenge to solve because there is certainly is not one solution.

but women time and time again value the mentorship. and evaluate community and the advice and guidance. and when you talk to female entrepreneurs their networks are smaller than their male counterparts. they have less natural resources of flow and less people to help repel them through the system. i think this is something we have to be thinking about as well. created through mentorship opportunities for women to encourage women and also men to take it upon themselves to foster this next generation and to encourage their growth. and to mentor them through the process. >> one point of the joint council but also mentorship, role modeling is needed and provided. >> absolutely. and that is something that our councilmembers are very enthusiastic about. and they are enthusiastic also about as one of them put it, forcing our male colleagues to do the same thing. and that is really really important.

i do want to say i was hoping to see this because mentors are important for all of us. and christine lagarde has been a mentor for me. it is really important for women to support other women. and i'm really grateful to all of the women who are here today.no you are all successful leaders otherwise you would not be here. and i know that you're going to go back home and support other women. and that is tremendously important. and as a volga said it is important that mentorship not being seen as something only women can do for the woman. we had a little bit of a discussion of father's and they used to say that behind every successful man was an even more successful woman. i have a view which is, backed up by sociological research that behind every successful woman is a very supportive father. there is a very supportive correlation between supportive

fathers and female professional success. so we know something about the fathers of everyone sitting here. but i wanted to make one other point about this sort of virtuous circle that we've been talking about and supporting female entrepreneurship. women talking about this strong economic of getting women involved in the workforce and is the chancellor we just have more economic growth. it is absolutely true. get women involved in the workforce. have more money and they spend it on the kids and their families. there is a positive social cascading effect. but i am a politician so i want to bring in the politics. and i do think we have to remember as we are working on these programs, there is a reason women have been excluded. there are very deep political and social reasons. women have been cut out of positions of economic power. in efforts which i know we are all leading that are going to bring women into greater

positions of power and are going to be controversial. they're going to cause conflict in families and societies. and i think part of what we need to do is be very aware of that. and part of the effort also needs to be political. and it needs to be about saying you know what, it is good for the mother to have some control of the family budget. it is good for your daughter to be going to school and delay marriage and to go out there and get jobs. i think we have to be very upfront about that.and in any programs that we are building. frankly have to be upfront about the fact that their challenges and all of our own societies around female leadership and women being in charge of money. which is that key thing. >> i like to turn that over because you have been out smoking upon to regulation regarding topics that we were

related to. like the german equal pay lapeer which you are not so in love with. let me put it like that. so what does it mean if we do not get things going by really setting the stage, even by political measures by regulation. that means you want things just to say how they are? >> well, i don't think i run the danger to act against women here. the question that you raised sits very well to what i want to say. i don't really want to spoil a good wood here. i would like to say that from my own experience, and i'm going to say something about the woman quota. i want to talk about my own company. it is very difficult to motivate women. we offer tremendous amounts, i mentioned already the working hours, the good working model, the flexibility. all of these topics of mentoring. all sorts of topics. we really are very supportive.

nevertheless, we have to force many women basically have two force them to take executive positions and they have concerns. the woman in the southern german area, particularly conservative but we have to overcome. and the woman say we have children at home and the grades are going to go down and the boys never study. i have to be home etc. so it is not only depend on the circumstances but you really have to force the woman to accept certain management positions. and that had to be done. and i really don't like the regulatory action. i don't like it when the government gets involved in our business. and i had to say, introduce a secret porta in my company. because i demanded that when we

are filling a management position that at least one female candidate has to be part of it. then things will change. but i'm talking specifically about regulatory and having little interference by government. because we can do it ourselves. >> the first of all let me say, i'm really impressed by how they have brought new atmosphere in the business because of the different perspective because she has her own family and for example not having the economics, business administration which shows a business is not so unusual that nobody studied something else could ever lead in management. they have to be a lawyer and economist, business administrator. otherwise you can't even get involved and that is true. you can study languages and still manage a business.

that is the first thing. the second, because he we already have basically where you can't even get into if you are not part of it. and that is a constant back and forth and your political discussion and different ideas about this. how much regulatory action you need and how much legislative action and how the can you do to volunteer activities or incentives. and i say after germany - became an active citizen in west germany. initially i was against having a quorum in my political party. but we found that ultimately had to have a woman in the final selection and then first he didn't have any and then for years -- you are in the management and we always ask, we would beg them. we were not able to get the

company to have one third of their membership with women. they actually are responsible for having not lost past. i have the honor of being women's minister from 1990 to 1994. if you have women's minister that comes to me in the year 2013 and she says we sell less than 10 percent executives and i can't say we can wait for another 50 years. ultimately we found women who were willing to take the position and now we go on. there are additional controversial discussions. i think that even in the transparency of equal pay for equal work, we found nobody knew it. that was really interesting. there was really nobody knew it except for one person that we have a lot that provides that they have the right to

find out about pay if it is level from woman and men. representatives of the working counsel that amended it really mention it's a woman did not know about it. see have to go and break up those barriers and then the last point that i wanted to raise, there are many discussions that we have had also in the federal government. regarding the glass ceiling with women, what is the reason that women do not want to accept executive positions? i think two things are important for me. first, there are not that many role models. and so that is terribly important. if you show how it is that it becomes more normal. if a woman with two small children can show that the boys still study for school, but women are in the great stress,

the husband says well, you can go ahead but if things don't work out, he's not going to say i'm going to give them a management position. it is always the woman who then are responsible and therefore the fathers and the men. for example if the father say leave work for three months they find that taking care of a child can really be something that brings joy and they have a closer relationship to the children. and then the priorities get shifted and they say well, perhaps parents leave is not such a bad thing. and something changes in the entire balance of the family. and it is very important. >> a. [inaudible question] chancellor. your great intervention, do you consider yourself a feminist? [laughter] [applause]

>> you can be honest. >> i am not one. well, the history of feminism is one where there is some commonalities and there are some areas where there are differences. and i would not want to assume a title that is not appropriate for me. for example if you look -- they have very hard struggles and now i'm going to sit down and say well, i'm a feminist now. isn't that great? so i am not afraid of it. if you think so, you can vote on it but i do not want to claim something that i am not entitled to. >> is anybody on this panel consider herself a feminist? [applause] >> hands up. who is considering themselves a feminist on this panel?

>> what is in a name? i just want that all women have a freedom of a choice. they have opportunities that they can grab and they can pass opportunities and fill equal every floor and really be happy and proud of themselves. if that is feminist and i am a feminist. [applause] >> than i am 12. [applause] before everybody - >> did you also raise your hand? >> no, i did not want to out myself as a feminist. well the explanation by queen maxima is wonderful. i want to add a history. we are very conservative in fact to link it to what the

chancellor said is when young men change the babies and all the things that are involved i can say we have a different experience than same experience that fathers have close contact with children but we also have experience that men come back and say .i'm so glad that really does months are over. i didn't know how much work it was. and now i can appreciate what the women do. and therefore parental leave is very important. but when we have the law where you forage? absolutely! and i had cases in the company that came to me and they said, my bosses who are men did not want to let me go and threatened that my career is ended. you'll have to imagine that and can you do something for me? and i said, stay away for six months.

[applause] >> actually, i like it that this is heating up a bit. this was a very very interesting part of this panel. i was serious about it. and i didn't want to make jokes about it because i am a little bit wondering whether there is some sort of a new reluctance to use this word. and that is related with the fact that we are facing some parts of a backlash to liberal rights these days. and also towards women rights. and would you like to comment on this chrystia freeland? women's progress is not linear and we, and the need to fight more these days again? >> i think one of the lessons of the world today is the progress of liberal democracy and liberal democratic values in the world, it is not linear in general. right? there was a moment when

chancellor merkel reference unification. i think it was a glorious moment when the wall came down, when the soviet union ended and some of us celebrated the end of history. and france's reticent famous book which i thought was very well-intentioned with the idea that the problem had been solved. and that the whole world understood that all humans really had so much in common. and we were all yearning towards liberal democratic values. in which i was very much including women's rights and feminism. and i'm happy to explicitly call myself a feminist. and i think what we have been learning over the past few years in a whole bunch of areas, very much including women's rights is that we can't take them for granted. and that is what i was related to a bit by talking about the political aspect of what we are discussing. there is a reason women haven't been in economically excluded in all societies. there is no society in the

world where women have fully equal rights. there is a reason for that. and i think a big part of our response needs to be very much about smart policies. and ivanka trump's point that we know what to do is make an excellent point.so much policy work has been done and if we just did all of the smart things that smart policy wants to agree on will make huge progress. but i don't think that we can neglect the political side of things. and neglect the fact that there are a lot of forces and a lot of societies including my own. it would feel more comfortable. you know with the woman staying at home. with the dead not having to take paternity leave and change those wretched diapers. so i, i think there is. >> is there a connection between the liberal free trade and all of those kinds of things and what we are talking about. one is progress. >> clearly empowerment. that is the juncture. but to follow up, one of the

reasons women historically in many societies, not all put in many societies have been excluded is that feeling that a lot of men have more impositions in power and so forth feel threatened by women. and i think that was clearly demonstrated by this panel is that women are not a threat. there a positive contributor to the well-being of society. [applause] and they can be empowered. i just want to things. i have been leading an organization both in private and public sectors. and i have not yet met any woman who offered the space and comfort to her children looked after safely and given the training to actually exercise the leadership and competence. had to be for spears and they have been something wrong the translation of what you're

saying in german but frankly, if there is the space for the domestic activity on the one hand. and that relies on policies. and second, the training, encouragement. women take the challenge, they are brave, they are strong. if those conditions are set aside. other than that i would agree with you. final point, chrystia freeland i agree with you but i want to say to all of the women who either never had a father because he did not know him or lost their father, you can pick and choose a father. they exist around and they can be tremendous mentors.and i hope we can support that idea because nobody should feel left out in that game. and i know you feel strongly for that. [applause] >> mrs. ivanka trump we have talked about the current affairs and i would like to know regarding women in business, the successor women in business and the relationship to empowerment

like mrs. 7-eleven just appeared open societies and free trade. are you advising your father in this regard? also in international relationships that empower women in business as well? >> well it has been an ongoing discussion i had with my father most of my adult life. we are very aligned in many areas. that is why he is encouraged me to fully lean into this opportunity and come into the white house and be by his side as we think through these complex issues. even here today. we all acknowledge the problems and we have very different views on the right solution. whether a legislative layer or otherwise in terms of how to get to the desired end goal. so i think that in the areas where i'm fully aligned with my father which are many, which is around the empowerment of women in our economy and really unleashing them.

and there are ways to do this more globally. just are all entrepreneurs and then there are specific tactics. that pertain and are most relevant for women in the workplace. that we had talked about the regulatory burden. there is an enormous regulatory burden that has been placed on american business owners. and that is slowly being lifted. there are definitely regulations that are good ones and there are ones that are stifling. and i think when the economy can flourish as a whole, that that benefits women. i think the policy component is very important. i think safe, affordable childcare is essential. and it is sadly something that is not available in most areas of the world including in the us. it has been a big party for me and the administration. because when you think of the wage gap, it is really exasperated by the, by a woman becoming a mother. so motherhood is an additional

challenge and it should not be. and while these are all family issues obviously, childcare is a family issue. and it has a millennial, be it on the other end of the spectrum, i consider i am really encouraged by what i see in my -- what i see in the next generation. where fathers are not only expected by their wives to be full participants in the household but they want to be. i think that is really important as we think about corporate cultures and so much of this innovation is happening at the private sector. we talked a lot about that today. -- the innovation of the private sector and doing what government can do which is amplified.i am encouraged when i see households and they see men being increasingly engaged in taking on these roles and really disrupting these ideas about gender bias

and a woman's role. the rally in the us, the single largest cost and over half of americans households, the single largest expenses childcare.even exceeding the cost of housing. there is an enormous problem and when my father is committed to tackling. >> madame chancellor. >> i just wanted to raise one issue that christine lagarde had mentioned regarding the question whether women are willing to accept executive roles if you have arrangements with childcare? and i must say we have made tremendous progress in germany but especially when children start school and a younger brother knows when a child is three, they have three years and in elementary school and then i can go back to my career. i think we have a progress still to make.

make sure that we have childcare aftercare, after school. and women then are able to focus on their work fully so that we have proper arrangements. we have long discussions in germany. should we do that and also for younger children, younger than three years old that was very difficult but ultimately when you offer childcare than the acceptance is much greater. we have to say that because if women always have to prove that they need childcare then that is not the right approach. you have to make it available and then we don't have to princes, ask well do we need roads if you don't have roads? of course you can use them but -- >> we came from liberal values from free trade and policy environment in regulation and

i've also talked about the micromanagement. let's put it like that. issue of childcare and regulation. i would like to get back to you, juliana rotich. what is your idea for taking up this whole debate from the perspective of the country you're coming from. is that what is needed there for our priorities is still very much diverse? >> i think just to add to some of the conversations about smart policies. how all these conversations do tieback to this question are smart policies around fundamentals. around education. healthcare. we have not talked much about healthcare. i think everyone is dancing around that. but maternity leave, reproductive rights. it was stated by the chair of the women 20 dialogues earlier that women's rights are human

rights. that in these smart policies, we absolutely have to look at how those policies tie with women's rights and human rights and the rights of people of color. it is important to be as inclusive as possible. just to tie that back to not only the kenyan transformation and gender but also the african transformation and gender. there have been some progress around several key indicators around the number of, the percentage of women in cabinet positions for example. still have low percentages of women in senior positions in africa. but there is a report by mckenzie and another by african development bank. that indicates some of the smart policies. and they go back to the fundamentals. we can really harness and take into account how we safeguard

civil rights, women's rights and human rights and all of the policies, we can continue seeing the progress of scaling women entrepreneurship. and last but not least, the key idea of assessing as part of the afternoon conversations, is when we look at financial technology and the immense potential there is a transforming women's lives, i can't help but think that if we add the component of big data, analytics and social protection we can find ways to deal with the refugee crisis. we can deal with climate change, where we are dispersing certain amount of money to the most vulnerable.

and last but not least, i hope my presence here and those who are watching online can debunk this idea that african women are not part of the solution. we are part of the creation of the solution. so include us as we think through the solution. not only from a technological perspective but also from a policy perspective. and continuing to advocate for women being at the table.at the highest able. [applause] >> that was a wonderful approach of taking wholesome picture and women's rights, human rights and we need to be very much inclusive in all different and actionable ways to really get going. thank you for making that very clear.

as time is running out i would like to jump into a very quick last round with all of you. as we are a small but very powerful network of women here on this stage.i would like you to figure out for a moment, but was an idea or a statement or thought of one other panel on the stage you liked particularly and would like to follow up with? one idea, one statement, one thought from another panelist you really like and would like to follow up with. your majesty, master with you? >> partnerships and innovations. governments, private sectors and ngos really have to work together in partnership to really make this work. it is going to take change in regulation. it will take us from private sector to really look at women and desirable type of client but also potential that works for you potential supplier for your product.

often a fantastic role to play in actually taking that risk but may be private sector cannot take of given that knowledge that the government does not know. will help in convicting a data that was on the counter. an partnerships innovation taking technology into consideration will be key for the future. an integral really work for the country by country.>> juliana rotich, what is your idea? >> come back to me after. [laughter] >> mrs. anne finucane what is most important to you? >> something that struck me as all of you are speaking, in order for women to move forward, men cannot feel that they're having something taken away. we all want to step forward together. and that the world is a big place with a lot of opportunity. further with document gdp or dignity or respect.the idea

that it is going to take away for another group and move forward for all of us. >> thank you. >> mrs. nicola leibinger-kammuller. >> i'm very practical and i was very impressed when we discussed with the funds. and who would contribute to the women especially in africa would have micro credits available and you madam chancellor, say that you could conceive that private money could be collected and i know many people have a lot of money. and yes, i think especially women of course, they could be interested in it. i love to collect money for a period that is great! [applause] >> thank you! >> ms. chrystia freeland. >> i'm going to cheat as a day things really fast could obviously be funded and it is good to have private sector support is a chancellor said.

canada is very enthusiastic about this and i really want to also thank ivanka trump for how she had been driving this. second, we have been having two conversations per the problems of some of the people that juliana rotich is talking about. refugee women playing climate change of the child on her back, that is quite different from women in a wealthy western country worried about are they going to get into a middle management position or not. and i think it is important, it is important you talk about these things together but to recognize that they are different. so i second one is from juliana rotich. i love the story of form drives. and i love your deeper point. which is a conversation about development. it can be someone coming from outside and empowering women in developing countries. many developing countries are extremely smart, they know better than anybody else how to empower themselves.

in terms of making unbiased pics and as we think about going forward. i think one of the key takeaways and there are so many first of all i'm grateful for the partnership, the women's

empowerment funds that we are going to be launching and very very excited to work very hard with everyone here to ensure that it reaches its full potential. i really think this discussion of inclusion and how nuanced and complex this issue is it's very important. i was personally pretty struck by the discussion around the term feminism because they think as a society we are very prone to labels. and i do label myself a feminist and they i think of that in very broad terms. i think of that as believing in the social political and economic equality for all genders but i do think there is a feeling of exclusion for a lot of women. if they deviate in one small way in one small area and i think one of the things we have to do is we have to come together. we have to have discussions such as this one where we can

respectfully disagree with one another and we have to go out into the world, find people who disagree with us and try and understand their viewpoints and i think this discussion around feminism and whites become so loaded is that i think there is a negativity attached to labeling. it does feel exclusionary of others and so it's very interesting to hear the chancellor's perspective on that i do think there's an obligation upon us and upon all women to support and to hold each other up and to be inclusive. [applause] >> first of all i would like pick up the idea of queen maxima that we are all feminists on this topic. second, the proposal of women's

issues elevated through the g20 not that w. 20 but the g20 level in some shape or form. [applause] and i love the idea of the fund that would be set up and leverage private funding but there is an initiative which you chancellor have launched which is compact with africa which could pilot that idea, that very principle that you identified in the opening. i think it's good having it as a pilot because you married the policies which are absolutely needed and the investment and the focus on the leverage of public balance sheets to bring more of private capital. think if we could experiment compact with africa with a special identification of women's issues in that project which you have championed in the g20 would be terrific read i'd like to coup -- compete with your idea that we need science

and technology and the barrier to entry is reasonably low and should offer education that we put money into it should offer a way for a woman to actually be leaders and not be excluded as the digital revolution changes the way we work the way we relate to each other. thank you. >> the idea for the fund is extremely inspiring i think and with the input from this discussion that it would have a way that it would inclusive in terms of its thinking so it's eventual implementation includes an complements a lot of the work that has very been done by not only the central bank governors, some of the organizations that

are part of the financial inclusion and others. i think that's truly the idea that i would like to take forward to help, help to broaden the input into the fund idea so that we have more people helping to think through actually how it will be implemented and bringing in some of the interest from others. thank you. [applause] >> madam chancellor. >> well in addition to being forced to think more intently as found in a very definition for it i would like to make sure that we can make clear the funds have great support.

second i learned that we should take serious those that actually are involved in the partnership and we should include that so we should look at who we should talk to in order to refine these ideas because they are talking about selecting capital leveraging but also using it in such a way that meets the needs digital education and the digital technology is something we have to learn too. many things happen faster in africa then back at home. for example using a digital phone is a platform which is being used for everything which is the same thing for young people but not for the older generation so we want to take

that up in christine lagarde is correct basically on the one hand we have to have a compact with africa where some african companies are discussing concrete economic projects and use the funds here with some of these countries that are ahead already but would have to discuss this further. i think there is a lot of work to be done but i must say very frankly and it also applies to the entire scherpa staff we are very motivated now and starting to debate with other countries. in a week we will be in south africa and we have to discuss also with argentina and mexico because everything is decided in consensus but we have some that are basically supportive of this

fun that i'm very happy that we have this discussion now. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen i think this was a very productive and inspiring panel. thank you very much to all the panelists and newborn feminists like her chancellor who are still debating it. we will get back to that later. thanks to the audience for your kind attention and hopefully this will make a difference and an impact at g20 this year. thank you very much to everybody. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen you can take a photo but please do not crowd the stage unless you have a special media passport to do so. of course remember that the german chancellor angela merkel will return tomorrow afternoon and i'm sure we can clarify the question about the feminist and many many other questions that have been posed to her. i would now like to ask you as a panel is about to leave the stage to stay clear of the aisle the photographers are still hungry for more pictures. that's give it to them. president trump will mark his first 100 days in office with a rally in harrisburg, pennsylvania.

>> naming these buildings is the beginning of our journey together toward the healing from georgetown's legacy of slavery. >> we have moved the needle on this discussion. it used to be no way, no how on anything like the aca but now it's let's make it work. >> to the extent that it's possible scientific research should similarly be separated from government. then you would not fund climate

science in particular been a faction ridden orthodoxy enforcing you know political movement but rather the quest for knowledge. >> the object gives our simplified personal taxes, tax cuts to spur the economy and make our business taxes competitive. >> clearly we have got to work with the afghans to stabilize the situation against the taliban onslaught and move ahead with the political process that's going to have to include pakistan. >> attorney general jeff sessions on transnational crime organizations. >> if you are a gang member, we will find you. we will devastate your network. we will starve your revenue sources, deplete your ranks,

seize your prophets. we will not concede a single lock or street corner to your vicious tactics. thanks c-span programs are available at c-span.org on our homepage and by searching the video library. c i'm going to go ahead and start in the witness will be out in just a moment to the foreign relations committee will come to order and thank you to all those for being here. today's hearing will examine the crisis in libya. like to thank your witnesses for again appearing before the committee on this important issue. unfortunately six years ago after