Earlier this week I attended the awards ceremony for the Gruber Foundation International Women’s Rights Prize–which is a hefty prize of $500K. The recipient, Pinar Ilkkaracan, took my breath away. Based in Istanbul, Ilkkaracan heped establish two organizations that are working to reform Turkish laws and advance the rights of Muslim women. The ceremony was followed by a stellar panel on the theme of women taking the lead in Muslim societies, which unfortunately I missed, but since you probably did too, you can join me in catching bits of it here.

(Panelists included Ilkkaracan; Daisy Khan, Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement; Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International; and Sakena Yacoobi, founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning and 2004 Gruber Women’s Rights Prize Laureate. Emmy award-winning filmmaker Anisa Mehdi moderated.)