On March 16, 2017, at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)-sponsored event on the side of the annual session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, an OIC representative claimed that the organization - whose member states (including Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia) oppress women in the name of shariah law - is devoted to supporting women. The event, on the role of religion in female empowerment, was advertised on the UN's Calendar of Side Events for the annual session.
Speaking to the approximately 85 attendees of the event, Fadila Grine, the Director of the Family and Social Affairs Department of the OIC, said the following:
"The Organization of Islamic Cooperation is dedicated to empowering women."