Updated March 29, 2017 17:19:28

A spirited Hillary Clinton has taken on the Trump administration in one of her first public speeches since she lost the US presidential election.

She criticised the country's Republican leaders on everything from health care to the shortage of women appointees in top administration positions.

Cracking jokes about her November defeat and her months out of the limelight since, Ms Clinton spoke to thousands of businesswomen in San Francisco, saying there was no place she'd rather be — "other than the White House".

Without mentioning President Donald Trump by name, Ms Clinton faulted the Republican presidential administration repeatedly, including calling its representation of women in top jobs "the lowest in a generation".

She rebuked White House press secretary Sean Spicer, again not by name, for chiding a black female journalist during a news conference for shaking her head.

"Too many women have had a lifetime of practice taking this kind of indignity in stride," Ms Clinton said.

"It's not like I didn't know all the nasty things they were saying about me.

"I thought some of them were kind of creative. But you just have to keep going."

Healthcare bill failure a 'victory for all Americans'

Photo: The Trump administration's attempts to repeal Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act have been met with public protests. (Reuters: Tom Mihalek, file photo)

Ms Clinton said she was appalled at a much-circulated photo showing an all-male group of Republicans last month negotiating women's coverage in healthcare legislation, noting a social-media parody of it that showed an all-dog panel deciding on feline care.

Last week's failure of the GOP healthcare bill, Ms Clinton told the crowd, was "a victory for all Americans".

Mr Trump has named four women in his Cabinet, the same number as in former president George W Bush's first cabinet.

Earlier this week he pointed to the work he planned to have his daughter, Ivanka Trump Kushner, do on child care and other issues involving working women and men in her unsalaried role in his administration.

Ms Clinton has kept a low profile after Mr Trump defeated her for the presidency, mostly unsighted except for outdoor walks with her husband, former president Bill Clinton.

She said earlier this month she intended to start speaking out again on public issues.

Ms Clinton urged voters to resist Mr Trump's policies that she said included suspicion of refugees and voter suppression in some areas.

"These are bad policies that will hurt people and take our country in the wrong direction," Ms Clinton said, relaying what had become one of her mantras since the November election.

"It's the kinds of things you think about when you take long walks in the woods. Resist, insist, persist, enlist."

AP

Topics: world-politics, donald-trump, united-states

First posted March 29, 2017 17:12:31