Stellenbosch is sorry for coloured women study
|Published
Stellenbosch University File photo: African News Agency (ANA) Stellenbosch University File photo: African News Agency (ANA)
Stellenbosch University has apologised “unconditionally” for trauma caused by a research article which portrayed coloured women as dom.
The paper, titled
, has come under fire from academics, political parties and the public.
The study, which was conducted by Sharné Nieuwoudt, Kasha Elizabeth Dickie, Carla Coetsee, Louise Engelbrecht and Elmarie Terblanche, found that coloured women in South Africa have an increased risk of low-cognitive functioning as they presented low education levels and an unhealthy lifestyle.
The findings were based after interviewing sixty women, aged 18 to 64.
A number of academics called on the study to be removed from a UK-based academic journal publishing site while the Psychological Society of SA’s division for research and methodology said the methods used were flawed.
“The article draws on colonial stereotypes of ‘coloured’ women, and portrays them as intellectually deficient, making broad, reckless and injurious generalisations on the basis of a flawed methodology,” said the society.
On Tuesday Professor Eugene Cloete, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies, said in a statement on the Maties website that the university apologises “unconditionally for the pain and the anguish which resulted from this article”.
He said the Rectorate has decided to request a thorough investigation into all aspects of this study, guided by the SU Policy for Responsible Research Conduct, as well as the SU procedure for the investigation of allegations of breach of research standards.
“Based on the outcome of this investigation we will take corrective action, as required.”