Ganta got her

A very early start to get to the Guinea border post at Ganta to collect Laura. We drove back to Monrovia, fuelled by plantain and Pepsi. Liberia is sort of rectangular shaped and its narrowest points can be crossed in about four hours. The road that runs from Ganta to Monrovia is excellent quality, possibly to keep the inhabitants of Nimba County happy and constantly reminded that the government is bringing infrastructure. Nimba was the scene of early fighting during the civil war and apparently many of the generals active at the time hail from this county.

Nimba is remote and nestles between the borders with Guinea and Ivory Coast. The biggest feature of the Nimba Range is the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, an area of high biodiversity and high mining interests. At one time the area was being discussed as a very rare tri-border UNESCO World Heritage site between the three countries, but checking indicates Liberia hasn't yet received a piece of the pie.

Misogyny has been spilling out of the project team today. On departing the field site I informed Joe that the next time I head there in April, I'll be bringing a Nigerian colleague in her role as the new Project Manager, and he'll be required to brief her on certain activities. 'Women are sometimes slow to learn'. Actually Joe, they're not. Their ability to understand the technical work is no different and they likely have superior emotional intelligence, useful in project management. I reminded him his views are not representative of our organisation's.

Later nearing Monrovia, Fayiah the driver held similar views about female colleagues, implying they talk too much and are less direct. The perception that women are less straightforward to deal with than men, does my head in. Especially after witnessing the intransigence on display amongst the all-male field team during the past week.

Most of our Liberia and Africa programme leadership is comprised of talented women, so I assume it's jealousy of status and effectiveness. Because if people making these comments engaged their brains for five seconds they'd realise nothing held true for the women we work with. I wish people could fight cultural norms and look at situations objectively.

Our new colleague has years of experience in Nigeria, by all accounts a very difficult place to work. If she can tackle that, she can deal with these small fry Liberian views, and whip these men into shape.