The difficult economic conditions of citizens in the Gaza Strip prompted a number of girls, and some married women, to apply for a marketing job inside a shopping mall in deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip.
This step was a break with the customs and traditions that Palestinians often hold, particularly in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a suffocating siege for nearly 14 years, which has worsened the life and economic situation of the population, and has led many merchants and employers of all kinds to lay off workers. Young men and men, and some of them even had to close their factory or shops and others, as the movement of buying and selling declined.
Citizens in Deir al-Balah area were encouraged by the presence of girls in the Al-Haramain Shopping Center, offering customers different alternatives of their needs at prices that suit them, in the European, international and even Arab commercial ways in recent years, which often witness the recruitment of girls for marketing purposes. And others in large shops and shopping malls.
Mayson Abu Masbah, an accounting graduate from Al-Aqsa University and a business woman, said economic conditions and her specialization prompted her to accept the job after it was posted on Facebook via the center´s own page.
Abu Masbah explained that she has had difficulties since her work at the place about a month ago, but after a short time customers used to watch her and her colleagues, and they began to understand our existence and our right to work like any young man, pointing out that some citizens initially refused to buy goods from them, and they were wondering about the owner Centre.
She pointed out that working in a shopping mall does not bother the girl, noting that the aim of the work is to be able to save money to spend on herself and help her family with life conditions.
For her part, Ms. Um Qusay said that the purpose of her work in the shopping center is to help her husband with the conditions he lives, and because she feels that she stands next to him in words and deeds, noting that she did not care about the talk of people and their difficulties the idea in the beginning before they viewed it as an estimated step as long as she does not oppose religion.
"A girl, a boy, or a woman is usually proud to work and help her husband, rather than to anyone."
Abdul Halim Al-Louh, owner of al-Haramain Shopping Center, said that the idea of the girls´ work crystallized when he visited government institutions, pharmacies and other centers where women work, pointing out that they were selected through their scientific qualifications, all of them (number editing 5) graduates of accounting and business management, and were selected after the publication of Employment announcement via Facebook.
The number of girls currently working will double over the next few years, he said, as a step for more excellence.
He said that citizens who were surprised and difficult to have girls at first were dealing very smoothly with them, especially since they succeeded in helping customers find their needs easily and providing them with the best and most expensive product in the financial situation of the citizens.
He said the presence of the girls has helped attract women from the area to reach the shopping centre themselves to buy their own homes and constantly deal with the centre to meet their needs.
He said: "Society accepts the idea of women being nurses, pharmaceuticals, politicians and others, and now they are experimenting with the business, and their success will be as impressed as in other areas.
