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