Hillary Clinton speaks during the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards at the The John F. Kennedy Center on March 8 in Washington D.C. | Getty Hillary Clinton's message to women: Never lose your resistance

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged a crowd of female leaders Wednesday to keep up the "resistance" in her second set of public remarks given on International Women's Day.

Appearing at the 16th annual Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards, an event dedicated to honoring and developing women in leadership roles, the 2016 Democratic nominee said she felt encouraged by the groundswell of grassroots mobilization she's seen since losing her bid to become the United States' first female president.


''As we all stop to look fear in the face, the result has not only been action, but passion," she told a crowd of female leaders at the Washington D.C., event.

Clinton, who said being among the group of female role models and innovators that she helped found felt "like coming home," urged those in attendance to continue to take steps toward furthering gender equality.

“Never lose your optimism, your persistence and your resistance," she said. "We can build the future we envisioned when we started on this journey with Vital Voices two decades ago, for women, for girls around the world and for us here at home.”

The former first lady also said that the current political climate beckoned for more female voices. ''Our voices have always been vital but they've never been more vital than they are now," she added.

Clinton's remarks echoed her statements during a luncheon earlier Wednesday, when she said she hoped to see a surge in political representation for women in the coming years.

“Let us hope there is a wave of young women running for office in America,” Clinton said as she accepted an award from the Girls Inc non-profit in New York. “And let’s be sure we support them in every way we can. Let’s help them shatter stereotypes and lift each other up.”