SECTOR 2 2.7 All media fairly represent the voices of both women and men Although there has been an improvement in the representation of women’s voices in the past few years, much remains to be done, as media content remains male-dominated and coverage of women appears to be negatively skewed. ‘This is a male dominated space. There are some female voices such as ministers and so forth, but they are not enough.’ ‘The media will want the opinion of experts and there is a belief that the experts are males so that those voices will come out.’ The way in which women are presented at public forums may also affect the coverage of their voices. For example, one panellist noted, ‘With the Sibaya deliberations, although we have 53% women in this country, very few women’s voices were heard. There is a huge discrepancy and this is a reflection of what then happens in the media space.’ Another panellist went on to state, ‘When women take the podium, they are made to kneel, making them look as though they’re saying something stupid. During one Sibaya, the AG [Attorney General] was moderating [the] session and showed a clear bias against women, with some being made to sit down before their time was up and being made to feel inferior.’ ‘What makes news is when a woman does wrong.’ The language used in the coverage of women’s empowerment and participation by some media houses has also proved problematic. ‘During elections, I was concerned by reports in the Observer. The king had announced the promotion of women’s participation, but I found extremely misogynistic language in the Observer’s coverage of this, which is a major concern. If you have a publication promoting a misogynist agenda, this is problematic.’ Panellists also noted that when the king called on the kingdom to help him choose a new prime minister in October 2018 – following the end of term of the now late Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini – most of the media that covered the potential candidates for the position showed a clear male bias and failed to mention possible women who could fill this role. A panellist posited that women are also more hesitant to comment on issues that may be deemed controversial. ‘I tried to get hold of a constitutional expert who is now a judge to comment on the issue of name changes [this followed the king’s decision to change the name of the country from Swaziland and eSwatini]. She refused to do so and I ended up getting one guy, who was saying a different thing and prominence ended up being given to the man, although he was not as qualified as she was to speak on the issue. Many women feel they are unable to be very outspoken because of the implications of this, even at the family level. Also, there is a general fear of speaking up.’ 29 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ESWATINI 2018