Hillary Clinton: Half of my Cabinet will be women
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton says that if she’s elected president, at least half of her Cabinet will be women.
During a town hall hosted by MSNBC on Monday night, host Rachel Maddow asked Clinton whether she would match a campaign promise Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made good on earlier this year.
“He promised when he took office that he would have a Cabinet that was 50 percent women, and then he did it,” Maddow said. “Would you make that same pledge?”
“Well, I am going to have a Cabinet that looks like America,” the former secretary of state replied. “And 50 percent of America is women, right?”
President Obama’s Cabinet, of which Clinton was once a member, currently comprises seven women and 16 men.
Last week, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said that the former first lady’s shortlist of potential running mates will include women, quickly leading to speculation that Clinton will consider Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a popular progressive, for an all-female ticket.
“We’ll start with a broad list and then begin to narrow it,” Podesta told the Boston Globe. “But there is no question that there will be women on that list.”
Hillary Clinton smiles during a campaign stop at City Hall in Philadelphia on Monday. (Photo: Matt Rourke/AP)
The Democratic party’s would-be challenger, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, responded on Fox News, accusing Clinton of pandering to female voters.
“The only thing she’s got is the woman card,” Trump said. “I’d love to see a woman president, but she’s the wrong person. She’s a disaster.”
Earlier in Monday’s town hall, Clinton was asked by a member of the audience what it means to her to be a feminist.
“Well, I believe I am a feminist because I believe that women deserve the same rights as men in every aspect of our economy and our society, here at home and around the world,” Clinton said to applause. “You know, I’ve devoted a lot of my public life to advocating for women’s rights being human rights, and making the case that we have to do everything we can, through laws, regulations, culture, to change the still-existing stereotypes that hold women back.”
She pointed to equal pay, saying it’s not “just a woman’s issue” but something that affects everyone.
“If you have a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter who is working and they are not being treated fairly, the whole family suffers,” Clinton said.
