Invitation to Ivanka Trump draws backlash at big tech show

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The nation's largest consumer electronics show on Tuesday hosted Ivanka Trump as a keynote speaker — a choice that drew scorn from many women in technology.

The annual CES tech gathering in Las Vegas has long taken criticism over diversity issues. In recent years, the show's organizer, the Consumer Technology Association, has invited more women to speak and sought to curb some of the show's more sexist aspects, such as scantily clad “booth babes” hired to draw attention of the mostly male attendees.

But for critics and activists who have long pushed for broader recognition of the less-heralded women who found startups and take on difficult technical challenges, the inclusion of President Donald Trump's daughter, who is also a White House adviser, sent exactly the wrong message.

“Ivanka is not a woman in tech,” tweeted Brianna Wu, a video game developer who is running for Congress in Massachusetts as a Democrat. “She’s not a CEO. She has no background. It’s a lazy attempt to emulate diversity, but like all emulation it’s not quite the real thing.”

Ivanka Trump spoke with CTA President Gary Shapiro for nearly 40 minutes, highlighting work the administration has done with tech companies to retrain their workers for new skills. She has worked on skills-training initiatives at the White House. Companies including Google have joined that effort.

There was no mention of the pushback about her appearance at the show. The hall was full, and she was met with applause. Organizers declined to say how many people were in the audience.

Shapiro told The Associated Press that Ivanka Trump is fighting for workers at a time when robots are filling warehouses and factories and self-driving vehicles are worrying truck drivers.

“We’ve had...