Not only Ivanka Trump is the daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, but she is also a White House advisor and likely the key credential to justify her keynote address at the CES 2020 in Las Vegas. Amid the backlash created by Trump's appearance at the annual tech fair, the First Daughter shared her thoughts on innovation and jobs policy.
The core topic discussed by Trump touched on the proposal to retool American workers, which she stressed will be key for them to gain efficiency and be ready for the jobs of the future. Trump attended a tech event, but she mostly talked on the Trump White House's plan of generating jobs.
Likewise, the keynote speaker sounded off a project that would see the U.S. government collaborating with the private sector. The plan is "to ensure American students and workers are equipped to thrive in the modern, digital economy," Trump said.
On this, the presidential daughter encouraged private companies to invest in the "reskilling" of the workforce in order to sustain the pursuit of innovation, the latter she described as giving a positive impact on the economy.
According to CNET, Trump's keynote lasted for 30 minutes and the audience was generally silent save for pockets of cheers and applause.
Unsurprisingly, Trump's appearance at CES 2020, considered the most important consumer trade show in the world, was not without controversy. Many female tech personalities bemoaned that the speech, let alone the attendance by Trump, was out of place.
Tech analyst Carolina Milanesi scored the choice of the keynote speaker as a representative of "all that is wrong for women in tech."
"There are many more women who are in tech and are entrepreneurs who could run circles around Trump on how technology will impact the future of work," Milanesi was reported as saying.
Elisabeth Fullerton of The Women Who Tech called the Trump keynote at CES as "an insult to women in technology," The Guardian reported.
"We did hard times in university, engineering, math, and applied sciences. This is what extreme privilege and entitlement get you. It's not what you know it's who you know I guess," Fullerton was reported as saying.
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which organizes the tech show, defended the CES invite given to Trump and explained the First Daughter's presence was relevant because her office leads the government's push "on job creation and economic growth through workforce development, skills training, and entrepreneurship."
CTA CEO Gary Shapiro also made clear that Trump's speech highlighted the continuing partnership between the government and the private sector on the mission of generating more work opportunities that would lead to further economic growth.
