The women are proud to create and sell traditional items they say are becoming a rarity to find.
Amal Botany is one of the female shopkeepers who spends most of the day at her stall, preparing fresh bread.
"Sometimes we come in the morning. We work from 2 pm to 11 pm. We are here to serve our guests which include the people of Zakho and foreigners. They are very amazed at our bread," Amal Botani, a shopkeeper, told Rudaw last week.
After the Zakho Old Bazaar was reopened for visitors, 12 shops were dedicated to women. The Old Bazaar of Zakho comprises 120 shops in total. It has been renovated in a way that has retained its historical and old shape.
The bazaar has been dedicated only to selling Kurdish traditional items and materials of all types.
The Zakho tourism directorate covers part of the women shopkeepers' monthly rent to support them.
"As the Zakho tourism directorate and in coordination with the Zakho independent administration, we agreed that we cover the monthly rents of the women shopkeepers during the initial months of their start in order to support them stand on their feet and help grow the number of their customers for the time being," Bewar Sndi, media officer of tourism department told Rudaw.
An estimated two billion Iraqi dinars have been spent on renovating the Old Bazaar of Zakho, according to Sndi.
