so. She is also a nurse and coaches and trains school girls to play cricket. Another muslim woman is a sports coach and has also played in the national rugby league team. All of these examples show that when Muslim women are given opportunities, they are taking them – so more opportunities need to be given. Some examples of good practice Next I want to highlight some examples of good practice, but I will only focus on initiatives promoting role models. a) A couple of years ago the national human rights body partnered with a national newspaper and identified the 50 most powerful women in Britain which helped break some stereotypes b) There have been a number of initiatives which have involved sending Muslim female role models into schools to speak to and mentor Muslim girls. c) The Muslim Women’s Network UK (www.mwnuk.co.uk) developed exhibitions showing role models which they now lend out to schools, libraries, and women’s groups. They have also developed role model posters and sent them to schools. They have also produced booklets highlighting role models. I have two examples here. One aimed at girls and the other aimed at women. d) I launched a website last year called big Sister, the website address is www.bigsister.org.uk in which I highlighted Muslim female role models from past to present, from around the world and from diverse sectors. To this website I also added a myth busting section on women’s rights in islam where I included satirical cartoons and provided arguments to challenge extremist rhetoric which is often used against women. This website was aimed initially at Muslim girls in the UK. However, since its launch, I have been contacted from Muslim women around the world who are telling me they are using it as a resource in schools, universities and empowerment workshops. The myth busting section has proved so popular that I recently set up a Youtube channel called Muslim feminist where I now plan to deliver lectures on Muslim women’s rights. I uploaded my first lecture last week on Islamic feminism. I have already received emails from women from other countries. In fact one women’s groups from south Africa who had seen both the Youtube lecture and the Big Sister website asked me if I would deliver a talk via Skype to a their members – and I did this last Saturday. I already have another request to do one for women in Pakistan. The point in telling you all this is that when women are give the information they need, it does have an impact – so we need to get better at ensuring they have the right information. Some recommendations I want to conclude with some recommendations: 1) More Muslim women need to be empowered with information to be able to challenge religious extremist rhetoric 2) Currently there is only a focus on empowering Muslim women who live in Muslim majority countries, Muslim women living in the West as