Frontline World

EGYPT - Inside Cairo's Living Room, December 2003
a FRONTLINE/World Fellows project
Cairo's Cafes: Taste and Tradition
A patron's bare foot and table-legs
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No matter her education or social class, any Egyptian woman seen in a café risks making herself unpopular with her father and brothers. This is not Taliban-brand directive; it's just felt that the women have their own living room in Egypt -- it's called the kitchen.

Despite this sentiment, recently it has become trendy for a few bold upper-class women to smoke shisha in a small handful of popular cafés. Ibrahim Mohamed explains, "In places with a lot of foreigners you can see women smoking. It's more free there."
Cairo's Streets: Go