were 5 women in Cabinet. One occupied the position of Secretary of State and another one was the Mayor of São Vicente, the second largest city in Cape Verde. There is one woman Deputy Speaker of Parliament. Other women are heads of Parliamentary standing committees. There are several women who are head of parastatals and other state institutions, and one who is a Supreme Court Judge. At the level of civil society there are women who occupy positions of leadership. Because of their work, these women are very sympathetic towards the media. In the countryside women play a pivotal role in the development of rural economies. SCORES: Individual scores: 5, 4, 4, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5 Average score: 4.3 4.6 Journalists and editors do not practise self-censorship. ANALYSIS: The issue of self-censorship has for long been the subject of debate in the media profession in Cape Verde. Not even the winds of multiparty democracy have succeeded in freeing the profession from the scourge of self-censorship. It is an issue that has been referred to several times in the US State Department’s annual human rights reports on Cape Verde. It has always been highlighted as the black spot in an otherwise clean record presented by the Freedom House, and it has repeatedly been mentioned in the Reporters Without Borders’ reports. There is no reason for self-censorship in Cape Verde, which is considered to be one of the most democratic and freest countries in the world. However, self-censorship could be the result of different types of pressure, including economic, being brought to bear on journalists. Since 2000 that not a single journalist has ever been taken by government to court, and contrary to what happened in the 1990s, there is no information about any journalist having been fired because of having exercised her/his freedom of conscience as a professional. Participants were of the view that self-censorship could also be the result of the fact that, in many cases, journalists have temporary employment contracts, and that fact may contribute to a sense of insecurity, preventing journalists in those circumstances from touching on issues that they believe are likely to put at risk the interests of their employers. SCORES: Individual scores: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3 Average score: 2.1 43