Carly Fiorina on Families & Children Republican primary challenger and former CEO

Paid maternity leave OK if voluntary, not mandated

"I have had lots of men imply I was unfit for decisionmaking because maybe I was having my period," Fiorina told CNN host Jake Tapper on Sunday.

This identification with women, as a woman, can be a great asset for Republicans. Fiorina often says that every issue is a women's issue. She opposes popular ideas such as federally mandated paid maternity leave (voluntary, yes; required, no). But such a stance may not matter among Republican in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa.

Marriage no longer worked after she became husband's peer

I had paid no attention to our finances. I never saw any of his paychecks and had no idea what he actually made, although I knew I was the primary wage earner. Todd seemed to enjoy looking after our finances, and I trusted him. I remember sitting at home at my desk going through bank statements and other records.

When the truth of it finally settled in, I saw the whole world differently. I could not believe that someone I thought I knew so well, someone I had trusted and loved, could behave in this way. It was the first time I fully understood how threatened some men are by capable, successful women. I would experience it again and again in the workplace, but to discover it in my marriage was a searing revelation.