Palestinian women hold their national flag during a demonstration in Gaza City marking International Women's Day on March 9, 2017. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

GAZA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has for long been a masculine community, however a 27-year-old kindergarten teacher Heba Fayez decided to open a cafe for females only, to enable conservative women to have a good time and maintain their privacy.

Men are not allowed in the cafe, where most customers are housewives and even the waitresses are also young women serving soft, cold and hot drinks.

Before the female only cafe was opened it was a billiard hall for men which was cleared several weeks ago.

"The idea of having a special women-only cafe in a conservative society like Gaza came to me several months ago, and when my two other close friends Doa'a and Yasmin shared the dream with me we then had the courage to open the first ever female only cafe in Gaza just two weeks ago," Fayez told Xinhua.

The male percentage in the Gaza Strip's 2 million population is 51 percent, and the female percentage is 49.

In Gaza city, there are so several mixed fancy, middle class and popular cafes.

However, there are conservative husbands and parents who won't let their female relatives frequent them.

"I believe the idea is very good and has helped many women in Gaza who can't enjoy themselves in a mixed cafe to instead come here where they meet their friends, chat and enjoy cold or hot drinks," said Fayez, adding "Shisha, or hukka is not allowed, but we have a billiard table for women to enjoy."

Since the Islamic Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007, following weeks of internal fighting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces, the movement has imposed its strict Islamic code on the populations particularly the female population.

Gazan rights groups had previously stated in different rights reports published in the past few years, that Hamas's Islamic regime in Gaza imposed the Hijab, or the headscarf on schoolgirls and lawyers, prohibited women from smoking hukka alone in public cafes or receive driving lessons without a close family member accompanying them.

The prices in the all- women al-Jalla cafe are quite reasonable, and considerate of the customers' low incomes, Samar al-Rayyes, a 45-year-old woman, a regular cafe customer told Xinhua, adding that "a cup of coffee or tea is 3 Israeli Shekels or less than one U.S. dollar."

Al-Rayyes said her husband doesn't allow her go to regular mixed cafes because he is conservative, adding that now she is very happy that she can at least go out and have a good time with friends and enjoy conversations about various topics related to the Gaza Strip situation which is currently suffering from high poverty and unemployment rates.

She said in the beginning she was surprised when she heard of the women-only cafe, adding that "she told her husband about it and he liked the idea as well, but unfortunately, he can't join me because it is for women only and he doesn't like going to mixed cafes."

Many divorced and unemployed women also frequent the cafe and spend time discussing how they can manage live independently from their ex-husbands and that inaugurating a women-only cafe is a welcome development enabling them to leave their homes and enjoy themselves.

"The aim of opening a women-only cafe is for the numerous Gazan women who can't find privacy anywhere, to come here, meet their friends, and talk about any subject they desire," said Fayez, the cafe owner.

Fayez complained that when she opened the café, many social media activists began to slam and criticize the idea itself, some said "those women are violating the original tradition of Gaza community and others said that women go to that café to waste time and ignore their children and their husbands."

Um Osama, a 44-year-old mother of five told Xinhua that she learnt of the new women-only cafe from Facebook, adding "When I read the criticism against opening a special cafe for women, I found it a great idea to permit women who are stuck at home all the time to go out and find a place where they can enjoy themselves."

In addition to being controlled by the Islamic Hamas movement and being under a tight Israeli blockade and undergoing three large-scale wars waged by Israel, the Gaza Strip is basically a conservative society, different from the West Bank or Israel's Arab community.

"I decided to go to the cafe to appreciate the privacy, as women do not feel comfortable in restaurants and cafes with a mixed clientele. If a woman laughs or talks loudly, everyone around her notices," said Um Osama, who declined to give her full name.

Fayez and her two friends told Xinhua "We thought of opening this women-only cafe to allow women to enjoy being themselves completely without the fear that they experience in mixed cafes."