Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari delivered a speech at a Pakistan-sponsored conference on ‘Women in Islam’ held on the sidelines of the Commission on Status of Women (CSW) at the UN headquarters in New York. He called for Islamic countries to lead the way in building a common future for humanity where the empowerment of women and gender parity underwrite a new peaceful, prosperous, and inclusive world order. He highlighted that there were deep misperceptions about the rights, roles, and identity of women in Islam and Muslim society, and that the caricature that dominates the perception of women in Islam is a result of ignorance of Islamic history and the roles that women have played. He stressed that Islam forbids injustice against people, nations, and women, and that it treats women as human beings in their own right, not as chattel. The opening session also included remarks from the President of the UN General Assembly, the Executive Director of the UN-Women, the Chairperson of the CSW, and the OIC Observer Mission to the UN, who delivered a message on behalf of the Secretary-General of OIC.