ZESN Report on the 31 July 2013 Harmonised Elections castigating Tsvangirai and his party for, among other issues, “corruption”, exhibiting “dictatorial tendencies”, and “lacking policy direction”. But these parties, especially ZANU Ndonga and Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD), were attacked when they were reported expressing support for Tsvangirai and his party. The principles of democratic governance and human rights are premised on the notions of majority rule and equal participation in most aspects of human and national development. This makes it imperative for both women and men to have equal representation and participation in all the facets of life. Women’s voices in the media therefore, are important as an indicator of equitable participation and representation. During this period, these were only very selectively heard during the harmonized elections, mainly representing those few women who hold influential positions in society. Vice-President Joice Mujuru, was the woman whose voice was mostly quoted in the media, followed by the First Lady, Grace Mugabe. These voices were primarily accessed by the state owned media. Surprisingly perhaps, Justice Rita Makarau, as head of ZEC, only managed third place despite being quoted extensively in both the public and privately owned media. She was followed by her fellow commissioner Joyce Kazembe, and the chief police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, who attracted significant publicity over her unilateral decision to declare shortwave radios illegal. Others who received limited access to the media included former co-Minister of Home Affairs, Theresa Makone, the MDC-N spokesperson, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Morgan Tsvangirai’s wife, Elizabeth Macheka. Otherwise, women’s voices were clearly relegated to second place behind their male counterparts in most election-related stories, providing an accurate reflection of the prevailing male-dominated political environment in Zimbabwe. The graph below illustrates this. Table: 9 Top 10 women quoted in Zimbabwe’s domestic media during the election period 47 | P a g e