CES 2019: Tech’s big gadget show edges closer to gender equity

FILE- In this Jan. 4, 2017, photo a woman participates in a virtual realty presentation during an Intel news conference before CES International in Las Vegas. The weeklong event is one of the world’s largest trade shows and where many tech companies and startups go to show off their latest gadgets and more than 180,000 people are expected to attend CES this year. It is against this background that a growing number of people inside and out of the tech industry are urging organizers of events like CES to ensure that their roster of speakers features a broad array of people, diverse in gender, race as well as in their thinking. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

NEW YORK: The world’s largest tech conference has apparently learned a big lesson about gender equity. 

CES, the huge annual consumer-electronics show in Las Vegas, caught major flak from activists in late 2017 when it unveiled an all-male lineup of keynote speakers for the second year in a row. Although it later added two female keynoters, the gathering’s “boys’ club” reputation remained intact. It didn’t help that one of the unsanctioned events latching on to CES last year was a nightclub featuring female “robot strippers”.