Ivanka Trump supports White House's decison to ditch Obama-era equal pay rule

The Trump administration on Tuesday stopped a planned Obama-era provision designed to help address the gender pay gap with the first daughter’s blessing. US President Donald Trump’s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump released a statement that supports the White House's decision.

Ivanka recognised that the intention of Obama’s equal pay rule was good and agreed that there has to be transparency. However, she pointed out that the proposed policy would not reap the intended results.

“We look forward to continuing to work with EEOC, OMB, Congress and all relevant stakeholders on robust policies aimed at eliminating the gender wage gap,” Ivanka said. The first daughter casts herself as an advocate of women empowerment.

Obama’s equal pay rule would have required employers to report aggregate information on how much they pay employees broken down by gender, race and ethnicity. It would have been an important initial step in determining the scope of pay gap within different companies. Based on federal data, women in the United States on average are paid 80 cents for every dollar men earn.

This week, the Office of Management and Budget said in a memo it was halting implementation so it could review the provision. It cited concerns about paperwork and privacy.

Equal pay advocates disagree with the Trump administration’s decision to scrap the provision. National Partnership for Women & Families president Debra Ness told Fortune that issuing a “review and stay’” of an equal pay initiative aimed at identifying and helping root out pay discrimination is Trump administration’s blatant attack on fair pay for women and people of color. She believes that the move “belies” the administration’s stated support of economic opportunity and women’s equality.

National Women’s Law Center president and CEO Fatima Goss Graves described the decision as an “all-out attack on equal pay.” “If you want to ignore pay inequities and sweep them under the rug, this Administration has your back,” Huffington Post quotes her as saying.

Critics took aim at Ivanka for betraying her stated commitment to working women. Vicki Shabo, vice president for workplace policy and strategy at the National Partnership for Women and Families, told HuffPost that it was disappointing for somebody who has held herself out as a champion for women and gender equality. She reportedly said that stopping Obama administration’s provision was the result of an effort by the Chamber of Commerce, the federal contractors’ business lobby and anti-worker and anti-regulatory senators on the Hill.

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