Women-only cafe opens in Upper Egypt
The instantly popular Pink Cafe for women meets a need in Upper Egypt, a conservative place where women have few options for socializations and entertainment.
Iman Sameh, whose husband did not want her to go to cafes and risk harassment by men, found an entrepreneurial solution: opening her own cafe just for women.
Women-only cafes have recently become quite popular in Egypt, but Sameh’s was the first to open in Upper Egypt's conservative Luxor province. The Pink Cafe offers a venue for Luxor women to go out and have fun without risking criticism from their conservative community.
The cafe caters to entirely female customers. The entrance is marked with “Girls Only” signs and the all-female staff wears pink uniforms in the all-pink decor. Smoking is strictly forbidden.
Sameh told Al-Monitor, “I thought about opening the cafe because it is difficult to find a decent place to hang out at in Luxor or spend my spare time without being harassed. My husband is against the idea of me going to cafes where men are allowed, so this is how I started thinking about a women-only cafe.”
