After he was asked about whether he would put a woman on the presidential ticket, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper retorted by asking why women are not being asked if they would select a man as their running mate.

“Governor,” said CNN’s Dana Bash, “some of your male competitors have vowed to put a woman on the ticket. Yes or no, would you do the same?”

“Of course,” Hickenlooper said, before saying he wanted to ask Bash a question.

“How come we’re not asking more often the women, would you be willing to put a man on the ticket,” he said to a shrug and audible groans in the audience.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey has pledged repeatedly over the last few days to make a woman his running mate if he wins the Democratic nomination.

“No matter what, I’m looking you in the eye and saying this: There will be a woman on the ticket. I don’t know if it’s in the vice president’s position or in the president’s position,” Booker recently said in New Hampshire.

He later told Ellen DeGeneres on Wednesday, “If I am elected as the nominee, I’m going to make sure there is gender diversity on the ticket.”

Watch the moment: