Baroness Sayeeda Warsi was named the most powerful British Muslim woman last night at an event hosted by the Equalities and Human Rights Comission.

Picking up the award at the Manchester event, the shadow minister for Community Cohesion said: “I personally come from a family of all girls and was brought up to believe that anything was possible and being a Muslim woman should in no way be seen as a barrier but as an asset to achievement.”

“Of course I’ve encountered prejudice as a woman and as a Muslim woman. One of the most specific forms of prejudice is journalists who ask, “Are you a Muslim first or British first?”, as if to say the two can’t be reconciled. I think Islam is a hugely liberating religion for women.”

She added: “When Islam is interpreted properly, it is a religion that supports and reveres women. Unfortunately, I don’t necessarily think that’s always the way that some sectors of the Muslim community interpret it.”

The launch of the EHRC Power List is part of a wider project to raise the profile of Muslim women working in the UK.

A poll published by the EHRC today found that two out of three Muslim women say there is no difference between what Muslim and non-Muslim women want in their careers.

The findings, based on a representative sample of 414 interviews also found that 77% of all working women in the survey believe it likely that Britain will have a female Muslim Member of Parliament in the next ten years.

A shortlist published last week also named other Muslim women in the media industry as upcoming stars, notably Riazat Butt – religious correspondent at the Guardian newspaper, BBC presenter Mishal Hussain, BBC arts correspondent Razia Iqbal, and author / blogger Shelina Janmohamed.