 Fatmata and Adama are visiting Mariyama's home. They have been joined by Titi, a woman who has her own small farm and is the first woman ever elected to be an officer of the local farmer's group. Their small children are playing nearby. What have you heard lately about the Wapo Investment Project? It seems that it may happen. There have been more meetings involving the company and the local leaders. Mariyama and I went to one meeting where the whole village was invited. I think they are close to reaching some sort of final agreement. As usual, none of the men seemed very interested in what we women have to say about this project. Just like at home. Indeed. Whenever my family faces any kind of decision that involves money or our land, my husband thinks he should make the decision himself. It is hard to get him to listen to me. Right? Just the other day my husband told me that the Wapo project might need some of the land that I am currently using to grow cassava. You all know how important cassava is to our families. He told me that we would get some money for that land if the project is approved. When I said we might need to use that money to buy food to replace the cassava he just laughed and said decisions like that are for the men and he would take care of it. I was very angry. Sadly, we have all had experiences like that. But maybe the new land law will mean that we women will actually have some meaningful input into how compensation money is spent. Or, at least we are supposed to have a say in whether the project happens at all. Well, that is how it is supposed to work anyway. But let me tell you how things work at the cooperative. As you know, I am now an officer there. Congratulations. We are very proud of you. Thank you. But it is very hard. As an officer, I am supposed to be involved in making decisions for the cooperative on things like the price we will accept for our palm oil banches, quality control, etc. I attend all of the meetings and I try to state my opinion about things like that. But the other officers, all of whom are men, mostly pay very little attention to me. It is very frustrating. What can you do? I'm really not sure. I have not been an officer for very long so maybe they will start to listen to me as time goes by. They know that I studied at the agricultural college and have some technical knowledge that many of the men do not. I guess I have to keep trying. Also, we heard the man from Waposei that they work directly with COOP officers and will look into ways to see to it that women farmers get the same support as men. Maybe all of that will help. You know, all of this is really part of a larger problem that affects women everywhere in the country, no matter how powerful they may seem to be. Just the other day, I heard a radio program where they were interviewing a woman who is a member of parliament. Even she said that it is difficult for her to get the men in parliament to take her seriously. And she comes from a powerful family in the south of the country. If the men won't listen to her, what chance do we have? The women continued to talk for a while. As it was getting late, Adama and Fatmata said goodbye to Mariyama and Titi and went back home.