Hillary Clinton spoke on CNN during International Women's Day to slam an Alberta oilfield company's explicit decal of a teen climate activist as an example of the ongoing misogyny women and girls are subjected to.

"I was so appalled to read about a sticker that had been made depicting Greta Thunberg, the young woman who has been trying to sound the alarm about climate change, being literally subjected to a sexual assault," Clinton said on Fareed Zakaria GPS on Sunday.

"A sticker that was being passed out at a company that is involved in the oil industry in some way."

The image, which CBC News has chosen not to republish, was printed with a logo for Alberta company X-Site Energy Services. It has been widely denounced.

The company had initially denied involvement with creating the sexually explicit cartoon but later apologized, saying it was committed to destroying the decals and had made organizational changes as part of accepting responsibility for the decal's dissemination.

Zakaria had asked Clinton on Sunday's show as the first female presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party to speak about the state of women globally.

Clinton said she thinks the unconscious biases that still exist — even in societies that have advanced beyond the U.S. with on-paper policies like paid family leave — are impacting women.

The former nominee said she understands that society is still debating climate change — although she said that seems absurd — or to disagree with Thunberg's views or the size of her platform.

"But to fight by objectifying and having a picture that demonstrated a level of violence toward this young 17-year-old girl … that's misogynistic," she said.

"There still is something inside that when a woman says I would like to lead … little alarm bells start to ring."