A cafe in Yemen run by women, for women

Photo: Courtesy

When Um Feras realised there were no leisure spaces for women in her city in Yemen, she founded her own cafe and hopes to change attitudes about women-led businesses. “There were no places for women to gather comfortably, no places belonging to the female community: where the team from administration to the youngest employee is female,” she said from the Morning Icon cafe she set up in April last year in Marib, central Yemen.

Traditional, conservative attitudes held by many locally against women working outside the home mean her project is new and strange for some people, Um Feras said. “The word ‘cafe’ can be associated with negative ideas and convictions ... Every new idea will have its supporters and opponents,” she said, adding she wants to lead by example to show that women can run enterprises.