At the UNESCO headquarters in Paris the Organization for Islamic Cooperation held one of their increasingly regular meetings on the role of Muslim women in the development of society.

Last year Tehran played host for this round table discussion, and this year Iran provided the opening ceremony’s featured speaker, who highlighted Iran’s progress in providing women with equal access to education.

The prominent role of female Muslims as the backbone of the Arab Uprising was proudly mentioned by nearly all speakers. But so were the shortcomings that women repeatedly face: equal access to education, the need for female-centered employment laws and breaking the glass ceilings at the upper echelons of business and politics.

Of course it’s been less than a century since woman anywhere have been offered anything approaching equal opportunity in society.

Perhaps the word heard the most often was ‘potential’. Tapping the special qualities and capabilities of women is a societal imperative, and for obvious reasons.

Comprehensive progress for women is necessary in any country. Why? Because women are half of the population and their role is so very important for the other half of the population – men!

With 57 member states, the more than 4-decade-old OIC is the second-largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations and thus can have a profound effect on the direction Muslim states take towards development.