Donald Trump, when asked about women's issues by Nancy Pelosi, handed the phone to Ivanka

When minority leader Nancy Pelosi called and raised the subject, the president-elect handed over to his 35-year-old daughter

Donald Trump has appointed his unofficial spokesman for women’s issues and gender equality - his oldest daughter.

Ivanka Trump, 35, was handed the phone last week when minority leader of the house of representatives Nancy Pelosi phoned her father and requested to talk about his policies affecting women.

The incident, as reported by the New York Times, highlights how his daughter, providing a polished and well-spoken front for his campaign, is increasingly being relied upon to woo women voters.

Gender equality campaigners such as Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, author of Lean In, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, have both contacted Ms Trump to start a "dialogue".

"She is really serious about the ‘care agenda’ and can be a strong inside force," Ms Slaughter said.

"I don’t know anyone else," she also said.

Ms Trump has sat in on meetings with world leaders, like Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. Her husband, Jared Kushner, is a key pillar of the Trump transition team.

During her speech at the Republican National Convention in July, Ms Trump called on equal pay for equal work. She also helped to craft the president-elect’s proposal of six paid weeks of maternity leave.

The proposal was not universally praised by advocates, however, as it excluded paternity leave and only applied to women who received no form of paid leave at their workplace. When Ms Trump was faced with tough questions about the policy at Cosmopolitan magazine, she walked out of the interview.

The 35-year-old businesswoman and mother-of-three has consistently praised her father for promoting women within the construction industry - she is an executive at the Trump Organisation.

She also dismissed many reports that her father abused women, and said he was "not a groper".

An Instagram account called Dear Ivanka, created by the Halt Action Group, shows glamorous pictures of the Trump daughter alongside pleas from concerned women, such as: "Dear Ivanka, I’ve been raped and I need to have an abortion."

New York socialite Arden Wohl posted a picture of her and Ms Trump alongside the caption: "@dear_ivanka will you keep another Jew like me safe from Steve Bannon and the KKK? From @ardenwohl."

The group held a candlelit vigil outside Ms Trump’s house last month to bring her attention to her father’s controversial policies.

"We refuse to ”wait and see“. We look to you as the voice of reason," wrote Ms Wohl on Instagram.