Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonTrump: Cohen only became a ‘rat’ after FBI 'broke into' office Giuliani indicates Trump Tower Moscow discussions took place up until November 2016 Hillary Clinton writes letter to 8-year-old girl who lost class president to male classmate MORE gave the closing remarks Tuesday's Professional Business Women of California conference in San Francisco, taking a moment to defend both a White House reporter and Democratic lawmaker as examples of the "indignities" facing "women who were simply doing their jobs." 
 
 "Just look at all that’s happened in the last few days to women who were simply doing their jobs," Clinton said. 
 
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 "April Ryan, a respected journalist with unrivaled integrity, was doing her job just this afternoon in the White House press room when she was patronized and cut off trying to ask a question." 
 
 Clinton was referring to an exchange between White House press secretary Sean Spicer and the veteran journalist on Tuesday in which Spicer told Ryan to "stop shaking your head" as she asked a question. 
 
 Spicer accused Ryan, a correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, for pushing an agenda with her questions. 
 
 "April, hold on, it seems like you're hell-bent on trying to make sure that whatever image you want to tell about this White House stays," he said. 
 
 Clinton also referenced Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's comment about Rep. Maxine Waters's (D-Calif.) hair, which he called a “James Brown wig." 
 
 "One of our own California congressmen Maxine Waters was taunted with a racist joke about her hair," Clinton said. "Too many women, especially women of color, have had a lifetime of practice taking precisely these kinds of indignities in stride." 
 
 "But why should we have to? And any woman who thinks this couldn’t be directed at her is living in a dream world." ||||| Speaking at the PBWC Conference in San Francisco today, Hillary Clinton called on Silicon Valley to improve diversity and inclusion, particularly by introducing paid parental leave policies. Clinton mentioned Uber and its recent sexual harassment scandal as an example of a company struggling with inclusion, and cited Salesforce as a company making positive strides on equal pay. 
 
 “It’s a cruel irony that stereotypes and bias run rampant at companies that pride themselves at being forward-thinking,” Clinton said. “For some women the hostility is even more direct, like the Uber engineer who spoke out about her experiences with sexual harassment.” 
 
 Clinton was referencing the experience of Susan Fowler Rigetti, a former software engineer at Uber whose blog post about harassment at the company went viral last month, prompting CEO Travis Kalanick to seek leadership help and to release the company’s first-ever diversity report. 
 
 “These are not buzzwords to throw around or boxes to check,” Clinton said. “A crucial part of solving these problems is recognizing that, important as it is, corporate feminism is no substitute for inclusive concrete solutions that improve life for women everywhere.” 
 
 Clinton had kinder words for Salesforce and the Gap, which she said are both “making real commitments to employees” on equal pay and paid family leave. 
 
 Of Silicon Valley, she added, “You have the tools and the creativity to take on problems like implicit bias and make the case for those in elected office to follow suit.”
– Two women who faced slights at the hands of prominent Republicans on Tuesday were defended by Hillary Clinton, who has experience in the area. Clinton, speaking at the Professional Businesswomen of California conference, decried the "indignities" women have to put up with while "simply doing their jobs," the Hill reports. She was referring to journalist April Ryan and Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters. Ryan was interrupted and told to "stop shaking your head" by Sean Spicer while asking a question at a press conference. Waters was mocked by Bill O'Reilly, who said he was unable to listen to what she was saying because of her "James Brown wig." Both women are black, and Clinton noted that the problem is especially bad for women of color. Her remarks were part of a bigger call for diversity and inclusion in Silicon Valley, according to TechCrunch.