COMMUNITIES Secretary Hazel Blears, the Salford MP, has called on local authorities to see how they can help Muslim women play a bigger role in society as part of efforts to tackle extremism.

Ms Blears said there should be more projects to help Muslim women become more involved in their communities, by offering education and employment schemes as well as training in areas such as leadership.

She said: "Resilient communities can only exist where women are playing a full and active part.

"Muslim women have a unique role to play in tackling the spread of violent extremism.

"That is why we are putting our work with them centre-stage - to give the silent majority a voice and make it easier for more empowered, confident women to play a part.

"I want to see more done in communities to build the capacity of Muslim women to shape their communities and to engage with disaffected groups."

There are an estimated 800,000 Muslim women living in Britain and the Government has said they are "uniquely" placed to help solve some of the problems within their communities, including the threat of extremism.

Figures from 2004 show that almost a third, 31%, of Muslims of working age in Britain had no qualifications - the highest proportion for any religious group. For many, language is a barrier to any further qualification.

Ms Blears' remarks came as she launched a good practice guide entitled Empowering Muslim Women - Case Studies, aimed at encouraging more opportunities for Muslim women through projects ranging from English language tuition through to leadership training.