Progressive attacks on CES for lack of female speakers ignore opportunities for women in tech

CES, the world’s largest technology show, started the year off in Las Vegas earlier this month, highlighting the latest innovations and breakthrough technologies. Despite introducing the world to inventions that turn sunlight and air into clean water, eliminate language barriers, and make traffic fatalities a thing of the past, CES faced criticism for something you might not expect.

A fringe feminist outfit that calls itself GenderAvenger declared war on CES for having no women featured among the convention’s top speaking slots. The group encouraged its paltry number of social media followers to attack CES on Twitter for its lack of women speakers on the mainstage and for showcasing too few female voices overall.

Perhaps GenderAvenger failed to notice that five of the 21 CES keynote speakers were women, and that the event featured 242 female speakers.

While there is certainly work to be done, the reality is the tech industry offers one of the most level playing fields for women and all minorities anywhere — and CES does a respectable job of reflecting that.

A 2016 salary survey of more than 16,000 tech professionals determined that there is no gender pay gap in tech industry jobs, when comparing workers of equal levels of education, years of technical experience, and job title.