Advertisement
Australia markets closed
  • ALL ORDS

    8,153.70
    +80.10 (+0.99%)
     
  • ASX 200

    7,896.90
    +77.30 (+0.99%)
     
  • AUD/USD

    0.6522
    -0.0013 (-0.20%)
     
  • OIL

    82.79
    +1.44 (+1.77%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,242.10
    +29.40 (+1.33%)
     
  • Bitcoin AUD

    108,265.20
    +1,870.42 (+1.76%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • AUD/EUR

    0.6037
    +0.0006 (+0.11%)
     
  • AUD/NZD

    1.0901
    +0.0021 (+0.20%)
     
  • NZX 50

    12,105.29
    +94.63 (+0.79%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    18,243.92
    -36.93 (-0.20%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Dow Jones

    39,760.49
    +0.41 (+0.00%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • Hang Seng

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     

Indiana furor what's wrong with politics: Fiorina

Indiana furor what's wrong with politics: Fiorina

Indiana's "religious freedom" law has been misunderstood and is an example of everything that is wrong in politics, former Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina told CNBC on Monday.

The legislation, signed last week, has sparked an outcry from critics who say it could give businesses the right to refuse service to gay people.

"I think everybody needs to sort of step back and cool off here and look at the facts, on both sides," said Fiorina, who is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination.

She told " Closing Bell " the bill, which is based on a national law President Bill Clinton signed, is not about protecting discrimination, but safeguarding religious liberty.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Basically what this law says is that someone can have a remedy against the federal government for imposing on their religious beliefs."

Read More Religious Freedom Restoration Act: What You Need to Know

Big technology names have jumped into the controversy. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook has called the law dangerous and bad for business and Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM)'s chief executive announced his company would cancel any events that required employees to travel to the state.

Fiorina believes it is incumbent on every CEO to take advantage of all the talent out there, including in Indiana .

"It's not in any company or particularly a technology company's interest to discriminate in any way and that's not what this law does. This law doesn't condone discrimination," she said.

"I guess what I wish is that everyone could cool off and look at the facts before they jump onto Twitter and condemn something that clearly there's a huge amount of misunderstanding about."

Fiorina also said she thinks the technology industry isn't taking advantage of the huge pool of talented women around the world.

"Women represent half the talent of this nation and of this world. So when technology companies aren't taking advantage of all that talent, they're shortchanging themselves."

The issue of sexism in Silicon Valley has been in the spotlight since Ellen Pao sued her former employer, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, for sex discrimination. Last week, a jury rejected her claims.

Meanwhile, Fiorina, who is currently working with the nonprofit organization Good 360, reiterated she is 90 percent sure she'll jump into the 2016 presidential race.

"I am continuing to go through a process of assessing support and building a team," she said. "I'm looking forward to making that final decision and a final announcement as I think I've said on a number of occasions-sort of late April, early May."



More From CNBC