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'IT is no place for the little ladies', says Dell mouthpiece

It's called box shifting for a reason

Texan tech titan Dell has been forced to assert its commitment to equal rights in the workplace after a Danish funnyman hosting its channel event in Copenhagen rattled off a string of sexist jokes.

The channel and indeed the tech industry is known for being male dominated, a point that - if we are being charitable - outspoken celeb Mads Christensen was possibly trying to highlight at the reseller kneesup last month.

"The IT business is one of the last frontiers that manages to keep women out. The quota of women to men in your business is sound and healthy," the man was alleged to have said, according to a report of the event on Danish site Elektronista.

Christensen, hired as a moderator at the get-together, invited a speaker from Intel on stage before going on to suggest after a coffee break that men were responsible for the greatest inventions in history.

"We can thank women for rolling the pin," he reportedly said.

Christensen then apparently signed off the event by urging all male attendees to go home that night and tell their wives or girlfriends to "shut up, bitch".

Dell took some weeks to respond - the original Danish version was translated into English and posted on Reddit last weekend - but last night, the corp wrote on Google+ to apologise for the offence caused.

"As members of our Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network know, Dell is an enthusiastic and committed advocate of women in business and IT. These comments do not reflect Dell's company values," said Dell. "Over the last few years we've launched several internal and external initiatives designed to accelerate the increasingly powerful role women play in driving economic growth."

"We will be more careful selecting speakers at Dell events," it added.

So Roy Chubby Brown, Frankie Boyle and Jeremy Clarkson can probably rest easy - a busy summer of hosting IT gigs is unlikely. ®

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