Fiorina uses debate triumph to highlight sexism

Carly Fiorina has sought to use her standout performance in the second Republican debate to draw attention to the deep-rooted sexism that she says still exists in American politics.

Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, stole the show at the televised event on Thursday by exacting revenge against Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, for a comment about her looks.

‘‘It’s still different for women,’’ she told CNN in an interview yesterday. ‘‘It’s only a woman whose appearance would be talked about while running for president – never a man. And that’s what women understand.’’

Fiorina raised one of the biggest cheers of the three-hour discussion with a riposte to Trump’s attempts to deny that he had been sexist: ‘‘I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Trump said.’’

The exchange followed Trump’s claim that a comment he made to Rolling Stone magazine that nobody would vote for ‘‘that face’’ was not about Fiorina’s looks, but about her persona.

Fiorina told CNN that Trump’s focus was emblematic of a deeper issue.

‘‘Women are half this nation. Half the potential of this nation. But somehow we still spend a lot of time talking about women’s appearance and not their qualifications,’’ she said.

Fiorina is the only woman in a 16-strong field to win nomination as the Republican presidential candidate.

During the debate, when candidates were asked which woman they would put on the American 10-dollar note, Fiorina said: ‘‘Women are not a special interest group.

‘‘Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses.’’

Fiorina has, however, reserved a special scorn for Hillary Clinton, the current Democratic frontrunner with whom she might one day have to compete for the presidency.

She said Clinton had a ‘‘track record’’ of lying, referring to the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, Libya, and the email scandal that has plagued the former first lady.

Post-debate pundits have labelled the event as the night of ‘‘Lady and the Trump’’.

Telegraph Group