Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump’s daughter as well as his top advisor, has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020. However, the decision to pick her for the role is now being questioned by industry insiders.
The Consumer Technology Association officially announced that Ivanka Trump will be speaking on a panel at CES 2020, Business Insider reported. She will be joined by CTA CEO and President Gary Shapiro on the same panel.
Ivanka Trump is set to discuss “the future of work” during the panel. She will explain how the Trump administration, in cooperation with private companies, plans to prepare Americans for the modern, digital economy.
“As a business leader and entrepreneur, Ivanka Trump is an advocate for creating family-sustaining jobs through workforce development, education and skills training,” Shapiro said. “We welcome her to the CES keynote stage, as she shares her vision for technology's role in creating and enabling the workforce of the future.”
While everything has been ironed out at the corporate level, some of the tech industry’s personalities are not too happy with the arrangement. There are those who felt that Ivanka Trump is not the best choice for the role as there are other women who might be more qualified than her.
“This is a terrible choice on so many levels but also – what an insult to the YEARS AND YEARS of protesting how few women were invited to keynote & being told it was a pipeline problem while similarly-situated men were elevated,” tweeted tech commentator Rachel Sklar, The Guardian reported. “There are so many great, qualified women. Shame.”
Some believe that the decision to choose Ivanka Trump was a political one and she does not really fit the role of a keynote speaker in a technology-related event. “It would be better if the background of the keynote speaker actually fit the industry it is serving and inspirational rather than talking heads and political,” noted the CEO of the consultancy firm CLC Advisors Cindy Chin, who is also the founder of Women on the Block.
Given Ivanka’s lack of experience in the technology sectors, Chin is afraid that it will only highlight the gender bias in electronics, tech, and mobile industries that exist to this day. This bias against women is ironic considering that women purchase traditionally male products such as automobiles more than men themselves.