Daughter of US President Ivanka Trump and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, UN Secretary General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development and Honorary Chair of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion at the W20 Summit under the motto "Inspiring women: scaling up women's entrepreneurship" in Berlin, Germany, April 25, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

"You hear the reaction from the audience, so I need to address one more point: Some attitudes toward women your father has publicly displayed in former times might leave someone questioning whether he is such an empowerer for women," said Meckel, the editor of a business magazine and a professor of corporate communications at a Swiss university. "Are things changing?"

Trump replied: "I've certainly heard the criticism from the media, and that's been perpetuated."She added that her own personal experience and the fact that "thousands" of women have worked with and for Donald Trump for decades 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.""He encouraged me and enabled me to thrive," Trump said. "I grew up in a house where there was no barrier to what I could accomplish beyond my own perseverance and my own tenacity."There was, she stressed, "no difference between me and my brothers. And I think as a business leader you saw that, and as a president you will absolutely see that."Talking later to a small group of reporters, Trump said she was unfazed by Meckel's direct questions in a public forum.

"I'm used to it. It's fine," she said, and also shrugged off the audience's reaction.

"Politics is politics, as I'm learning, and there are many different viewpoints and people with different options and perspectives," she said.