In 2002 the RH Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Minister for women, began meeting regularly with a small group of Muslim women.  However, believing that the systematic exclusion of Muslim women’s voices in public policy meant that the serious social issues facing Muslim communities and Muslim women were unlikely to be successfully addressed, the group decided to establish itself as a network.  In 2003, the group formalised itself as the Muslim Women’s Network with the support of the Women’s National Commission (WNC) to give independent advice to government on issues relating to Muslim women and public policy.   The WNC provided secretarial support as well as collaboration on activities.  The WNC was the government’s official independent advisory body on women and is a non departmental public body (up until December 2010).

In 2007, the Muslim Women’s Network renamed itself Muslim Women’s Network UK (MWN-UK) and decided to establish itself as an independent organisation and a partner of the WNC.  MWN-UK received funding from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to help with its transition towards a more formal institutional structure and proactively expand the network over a period of 12-18 months, especially seeking out membership from certain under represented sectors of Britain’s diverse communities.