This year’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2018) was held in Las Vegas and as is tradition, we saw presentations of new products and technologies.
Leading manufacturers showed off their latest products and best innovations. Some of the companies that impressed were Acer with its Acer Swift 7 (2018) – dubbed the world’s thinnest laptop, Byton for its Byton electric car, Dell’s XPS 13 laptop, Google with its AI, and LG with the ‘rollable’ 65-inch 4K OLED.
The annual trade show went on well except that it featured an all-male line-up of main speakers. The absence of women on such a big stage speaks of deeper issues within the tech industry. An earlier post dubbed “Gender inequality in tech: Is the space merit driven?” sought to investigate the problem of gender equality in the tech space. While the argument is that women should not just expect to take to the podium based on their gender, we cannot overlook the fact that there are some wonderful women shaping the tech industry. Revolutionary ideas are always appreciated and recognized, coincidentally, the tech industry evidenced a new crop of female tech innovators in the year 2017. It became clear that women were no longer comfortable taking a back seat; hence, it comes as a shock that CES organizers seemed to have missed that part when coming up with the keynote speakers’ line-up for the CES 2018.
CES, not exactly a bastion gender equality
The organizers of CES 2018 should not waste time pretending that they are advocates of gender equality. Their repetition precedes them. In the past couple of years, only three women have been keynote speakers. These are Marissa Mayer, former Yahoo CEO, Mary Barra, CEO of general motors, and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty. The last time women were included in the keynote line-up was in 2016 when Barra and Rometty took to the stage. Mayer had been included in the 2014 line-up.
When the line-up for the CES 2018 keynote speakers came out, CTA was criticized for not including women. In their defense, the organizers claimed that only a few women met their criteria. Despite insinuating that some women qualified, the company announced that their search for qualified female speakers had been unsuccessful. This happened a week before the event. Some people called their bluff.
At 50, CTA can do better. There are numerous talented female executives that could have taken to the podium during CES 2018. The company has the power to change the industry. The lack of gender diversity could be a thing of the past if organizers offer a stage for other companies – we have been hearing from the same companies for such a long time. There are many groundbreaking and cutting-edge innovations that never see the light of day because the same companies have been dominating the stage every year. CTA also needs to realize that some attendees come looking for inspiration which they are likely to find if diversity is embraced.
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