The situation is getting ridicolous once more.
I don't know it the ubisoft claims are true, they said they have redone the animation system completely, at the same time these opinion by industry professionals are worth considering.
The fact is that this is the nth "non issue" : developers are not obliged to use female characters in their games.
They are not using a male character in a context where a female one was obviously the best fit.
It's their choice, we should respect it. There are 4 playable assassins in the game, 4 is not statistically relevant!
If anybody has serious problems playing a character of one specific gender he/she should ask himself some questions.
Those ridicolous complains are getting out of hand. Focus on real equality problems folks!
Equality is not imposed equal(by counting them) representations in games or other media.
Poor ubisoft, after giving us a game and a DLC centered on a female assassin, a strong femal character in ACIV and a game with a supposed gay antagonist, it has to deal with this.