Or "Bathhouse" is a profitable enterprise in a land where water is rare. </p><p>These businesses thrive in both cities and regions with limited water. A hammam serves as a social gathering place for men. It is also a gathering place for women, though each sex may use the bathhouse only at separate, proscribed times. </p><p> In larger towns and especially in cites separate bathhouses exist for men and women, precluding the need for separate operating hours for each sex.