ANC calls for Stellenbosch University study on coloured women to be withdrawn
29 April 2019
ANC Western Cape joins the call to retract the University of Stellenbosch (US) study that claims coloured women have an increased risk of low cognitive functioning due to low education levels and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours.
We believe that this study propagates the practice of discrimination and stigmatization on racial grounds, under the guise of scientific research and should therefore not be condoned.
Insinuating that coloured women are “intellectually deficient” is harmful and exaggerated. Given the limitations raised in the study itself exemplified by the limited sample size of 60 women in comparison with the entire “Coloured” population in South Africa, reinforces undesirable race and gender relations in a post-Apartheid SA, and undermines the quest for democratic ideals.
The greatest risk with this finding is the “generalization” and the impact thereof in terms of perpetuating existing stereotypes. Like most, particularly black communities in South Africa, “coloured” communities are already under siege in terms of socio-economic challenges such as youth unemployment, lack of access to quality education and training, safety and security issues, employment equity concerns and therefore should not be isolated regarding effects of such deprivation if such effects are real as purported by the study.