RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Ivanka Trump brought her message of female empowerment Sunday to the world’s most repressive society for females, a place where women are not allowed to drive, must cover themselves from head to toe in public, and require permission from a “male guardian” to travel outside their homes.

“In every country, including the United States, women and girls face challenges,” Trump told a small group of accomplished Saudi women gathered to dialogue with her about how to build on their successes. “Saudi Arabia’s progress, especially in recent years, is very encouraging,” Trump said, “But there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

President Donald Trump is also accompanied here by his wife, Melania, and she and Ivanka Trump have often been the only women present in public meetings with Saudi officials. The first lady, who sat courteously but silent and largely without expression during a number of formal sessions Saturday, was praised Sunday by the English-language Arab Times as “classy and conservative” for her demeanor and her designer outfits covering her arms and legs.

Neither Melania nor Ivanka Trump have worn headscarves during the visit, following the tradition of other presidential spouses visiting here.

In her meeting with the women, Ivanka Trump described herself as a “female leader within the Trump administration” and said her focus was “to help empower women in the United States and around the globe.”

She noted problems of affordable child care, paid family leave and a “persistent pay gap,” and said women around the world have told her of their lack of access to capital, networks and markets.

The 15 black-wrapped women gathered at Riyadh’s Tuwaiq Palace to speak with Ivanka Trump, dressed in a powder-blue pantsuit, were all highly educated, many of them in the United States. They held positions ranging from the heads of a national youth organization and the first public women-only university in the kingdom and senior roles in the Chamber of Commerce and the small business authority, to company founders.

Hosting the meeting was Princess Reema bint Bandar, deputy president of the Women’s Sports Authority, who said she had met Ivanka Trump because both had a life in retail. “And today,” the princess said, “we both find ourselves quite interestingly in governmental positions where we hope to make a difference for the future of women.”

Although two female reporters present were told by the White House to leave the gathering after initial introductions and Ivanka Trump’s opening remarks, a White House official later said they discussed segregation of men and women in the kingdom, guardianship laws and the ban on women driving.

Ivanka Trump’s message did not appear to resonate with at least some Saudi women.

“All the women that Ivanka Trump met have a guardian,” said Aziza al-Yousef, a 58-year-old activist here who has campaigned to abolish the guardianship rules. A retired professor of computer science at King Saud University, she was recently rebuffed when she tried to deliver a 14,700 signature petition on eliminating the guardian system to the government.

“All these achievements depend on whether you’re lucky to be born in a family where your guardian will be understanding, will help you,” Yousef said. “If Ivanka is interested in women empowerment and human rights, she should see activists, and not just officials.”

A recent new royal decree called for easing some aspects of the guardian system, which currently requires a father, brother, husband or other close relative to accompany women outside the home and give written consent to access higher education, jobs and even health care. The decree, which gave government agencies three months to come up with new rules, does not include the right to travel independently outside the country.

“It’s not about Ivanka speaking at the meeting,” said 28-year-old activist Loujain al-Hathloul, who was jailed for driving in 2014, “but is it actually useful for these women from Saudi Arabia to speak as well? Is their contribution in such events helpful to us Saudi women in general, not princesses or business owners or rich women? Does it actually help us? I doubt it.”