Students, staff and academics across the world are voicing their indignation after the University of St. Andrews in Scotland failed to renew the contract of the female director of its Institute for Gender Studies, part of its philosophy department. The move has raised questions about the underrepresentation of women in academia, particularly in a field of study focused on representation and identity. Alison Duncan Kerr, an American philosopher, has been working for the prestigious university since 2017 on a temporary contract. In 2018, she was contracted to establish the St. Andrews Institute for Gender Studies, and later created a master’s degree program in gender studies at the university in 2020. Her tasks will be distributed to other staff members “none of whom has gender as a central research interest,” the letter says.

Source: New York Times February 15, 2021 18:00 UTC