Strange bedfellows

My parents arrived in this country from southern Ireland in the 1960s, and they later told me of advertisements that read: "No Blacks or Irish need apply."

So I was shocked to read the advertisement for City University/Saad National Schools (July 6) for academic and administrative posts - for which women need not apply.

The Times Higher has made a serious error of judgment in accepting this advertisement. The need for the study of women's studies and feminism within British academe and Saudi Arabia cannot be demonstrated strongly enough.

Phylomena H. Badsey
Birmingham University