Despite the insensitive remarks of Jack Straw recently, Muslim women wearing hijabs, should be employed in frontline roles in the media, said a report published recently by Ruth Kelly, the minister for women.

More women wearing hijab needed to be seen in the public eye, particularly on television, to encourage more Muslim women to put themselves forward, it said.

Miss Kelly said the Government was giving priority to helping ethnic minority women to overcome discrimination at work and play a more prominent role in public life. Ethnic minorities have a lower employment rate than the rest of the population.

For Bangladeshi and Pakistani women it is particularly low at only 24 per cent: the average employment rate for women of working age is 70%.

The report, Engaging with Muslim Women, was based on a seminar at No 10 in May when Muslim women were invited to put their views to Tony Blair and Miss Kelly as part of a dialogue after the July 7 bombings in London. They told the Prime Minister they wanted the media to take them more seriously.