--- title: Hillary Clinton Shakes Off Benghazi Hearing at DNC Forum description: Clinton tells opponents who say she's playing the gender card "deal me in." canonical: https://time.com/4085175/hillary-clinton-democratic-women-leadership/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-23T19:28:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:10.234Z article:section: Politics og:title: Clinton Shakes Off Benghazi Hearing at Forum og:description: Clinton tells opponents who say she's playing the gender card "deal me in." og:url: https://time.com/4085175/hillary-clinton-democratic-women-leadership/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ff31d13b60fbe4f/698869a4bc6cfc56e73da0e2/hillary-clinton-democratic-women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton speaks during the Democratic National Committee 22nd Annual Women's Leadership Forum National Issues Conference at Grand Hyatt Washington DC on October 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Clinton Shakes Off Benghazi Hearing at Forum twitter:description: Clinton tells opponents who say she's playing the gender card "deal me in." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ff31d13b60fbe4f/698869a4bc6cfc56e73da0e2/hillary-clinton-democratic-women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Clinton Shakes Off Benghazi Hearing at Democratic Women's Forum by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 23, 2015 7:28 PM UTC  Hillary Clinton speaks during the Democratic National Committee 22nd Annual Women's Leadership Forum National Issues Conference at Grand Hyatt Washington DC on October 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. Hillary Clinton speaks during the Democratic National Committee 22nd Annual Women's Leadership Forum National Issues Conference at Grand Hyatt Washington DC on October 23, 2015 in Washington, DC.Leigh Vogel—2015 Leigh Vogel by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 23, 2015 7:28 PM UTC Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in high spirits talking to a liberal women’s group Friday, a day after a marathon hearing about Benghazi. Speaking before the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum, Clinton noted that she had started to go hoarse after the 11-hour hearing before a House select committee. “As some of you may know, I had a pretty long day yesterday,” she joked. Clinton denounced the hearing as a “partisan witch hunt,” then argued that another select committee being set up to investigate Planned Parenthood would also be misguided. She also said that Republican presidential debates have also not focused on the issues. “You can listen to their debates for hours and you won’t hear a single solution to any of the problems that we’re facing here at home or around the world,” she said. Clinton took the opportunity to offer up some insight as the possible first female presidential nominee, delivering some powerful lines: * **On the gender card:** “If calling for equal pay and paid leave and women’s health is playing the gender card, then deal me in.” * **On equal pay:** “In one of my town halls in Nevada, I called on a little girl who was sitting with her father. You never know what kids are going to ask you, which is why I try to call on at least one if they’re in my town hall. And this little girl stood up and she said ‘If you’re a girl president, will you be paid as much as a boy president?’ I said ‘Well I think so, I think that’s in the law.'” * **On being accused of “shouting” about gun control:** “First of all, I’m not shouting. It’s just when women talk, some people think we’re shouting.” Clinton applauded the work of Vice President Joe Biden, who announced Wednesday [that he wouldn’t be running for President](http://time.com/4082963/saying-the-window-has-closed-biden-takes-a-pass-on-a-run/), for his years of service to the nation’s women. “I’m confident that history isn’t finished with Joe Biden,” said Clinton. “If I know Joe, he’ll be right there with us on the front lines.” ### See Hillary Clinton's Evolution in 20 Photos  Teenager: Hillary Rodham poses in her 1965 senior class portrait from Park Ridge East High School in Illinois. AP  Law School Student: Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham pose for a snapshot at Yale Law School in 1972\. They married in 1975. Clinton Presidential Library  Mother: Clinton poses with her husband, Bill, then in his first term as governor, with their week-old daughter, Chelsea, on March 5, 1980. Donald R. Broyles—AP  Campaign Companion: Clinton celebrates her husband's victory in a Democratic runoff in Little Rock, Ark. on June 8, 1982. AP  Arkansas First Lady: Clinton is seen in her inaugural ball gown in 1985. A. Lynn—AP  Political Wife: Clinton celebrates her husband's inauguration in Little Rock on Sept. 20, 1991. Danny Johnston—AP  Dignitary: Clinton receives an honorary law degree from Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., on May 30, 1992. Chris Ocken—AP  Campaigner: Clinton speaks at a meeting during the presidential campaign for her husband in Buffalo, N.Y., on April 4, 1992. Bill Sikes—AP  First Lady: Clinton appears at the MTV Inauguration Ball at the Washington Convention Center on Jan. 20, 1993. Shayna Brennan—AP  Second-Term First Lady: Clinton attends the Inaugural Ball after her husband was sworn in to a second term on Jan. 20, 1997. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  New York Senator: Clinton speaks at a press conference with female Democratic senators in Washington on June 21, 2006. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Committee Member: Clinton listens to the testimony of Lt. General David Petraeus to the Senate Armed Forces Committee at a hearing on Capital Hill in Washington on Jan. 23, 2007. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Candidate: Clinton holds a a campaign event in Portsmouth, N.H., while running for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sept. 2, 2007. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Campaigner: Clinton speaks at a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Jan. 2, 2008. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secretary of State: Clinton kisses President Obama at a joint session of Congress in Washington on Feb. 24, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Witness: Clinton joins Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Dec. 3, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Witness: Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Jan. 23, 2013. J. Scott Applewhite—AP  Author: Clinton attends a signing memoir, "Hard Choices," at a Costco in Arlington, Va., on June 14, 2014. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Grandmother: Clinton holds her granddaughter Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City on Sept. 27, 2014. Office of President Clinton/AP  Once and Future Candidate: Clinton speaks at Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's annual Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa, on Sept. 14, 2014. 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