She may be the head of the Gabonese executive, but on the morning of 17 March, prime minister Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda found herself just a participant among others as Gabon's "Task force on gender equality" held its sixth session in the conference room of Libreville's Radisson Blu hotel. All of the national television channels summoned for the event had their cameras turned towards the woman leading the talks on furthering gender equality in Gabon: President Ali Bongo's wife, Sylvia Bongo