Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the media have a "double standard" for how they talk about women in public life and encouraged women to be resilient in the face of setbacks.
According to
Politico, the former first lady and presumed 2016 Democratic presidential contender, made the comments in New York Thursday at the Women in the World Summit.
She appeared on a panel with Christine Lagarde, International Monetary Fund managing director, which was moderated by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, Politico reported.
"There is a double standard, obviously," Clinton said. "We have all experienced it or at the very least seen it… The double standard is alive and well, and I think in many respects the media is the principal propagator of its persistence."
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She added that the media needs to be more proactive in its awareness of the bias, according to Politico.
Friedman asked for Clinton's advice to women entering professional or political life.
"You have to play both an outside and inside game," Clinton said, according to
ABC News.
"On the outside you have to find ways to raise these issues that are truly rooted in sexism or in old-fashioned irrelevant expectations about women's lives, not just to score a point but to change a mind."
Clinton also said that women who want to be players in the big public debates of the day need to "grow a skin as thick as the hide of a rhinoceros."
"You should take criticism seriously," she said, according to ABC News. "Because you might learn something, but you can't let it crush you… and despite whatever the personal setbacks, even insults that come your way might be. And that takes a sense of humor about yourself and others."
"Believe me, this is hard-won advice I’m now putting forward here," Clinton said, according to Politico. "It’s not like you wake up and understand this."
Friedman said that both women could end up in presidencies—Lagarde of the European Commission and Clinton of the United States, prompting a high-five between the two women, Politico reported.
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