interests of the public, being the voice of civil society and guarantor of
transparency and good governance. Investigative journalism, however, is faced
with the problem of shortage of resources necessary to sustain the high costs
associated with information gathering. On the other hand, most journalists lack
the necessary technical and professional skills required for good investigative
journalism.
SCORES:
Individual score:

3, 3, 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4

Average score:

3.5

4.4

Gender mainstreaming is promoted in terms of equal participation of both
sexes in the production process.

ANALYSIS:
About 70% of the staff in the media in Cape Verde are women. They are
editors, reporters, sound and communications engineers, TV presenters and
producers, and senior administrative, business and marketing executives. For
years that women have taken a leading role in the management of the media
sector in Cape Verde. Not so long ago, the Director General of RNCV was a
woman. So was the Chair of the Board of TCV. Many women manage
newspapers and magazines. The Editor of the country’s most influential private
newspaper, A Semana, is a woman. Women play such an important role in the
media in Cape Verde that one participant humorously said that, “what we need
now is an association for the protection of men”. The influential role played by
women in Cape Verde may be better explained by the fact that Cape Verde is
predominantly a country of emigrants, with men leaving the country to fend for
their families from abroad.
However, the fact that women have a leading role in the media does not
necessarily mean that issues of gender are treated fairly by the media, even
though the situation in Cape Verde is still far better than in many other African
countries.
SCORES:
Individual scores:

5, 5, 4, 4, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3

Average score:

4.3

4.5

Gender mainstreaming is reflected in the editorial content.

ANALYSIS:
“Gender mainstreaming is a given fact���, says panellist, lawyer and social activist
Vanda Évora. Many women occupy prominent positions in the Government of
Cape Verde. As this exercise was being carried out in September 2007, there
42

Select target paragraph3