Instead of tying animations to race/gender, what about allowing people to choose an animation "set" and dialogue response options based on a "personality" option in the character creation menu.
This would be similar to how you choose retainer personalities, except with it, it would come with animations as well.
Example:
If you choose a "fair" (as in beautiful, not just) as a personality type, that would apply the current Hyur, female Midlander animation set. If you choose "gruff" then maybe a the male Roe set or Au'ra set. Etc.
This would also help one of the most lore-confusing issues, in that it would tailor your "response selections" in-game with a consistent personality. If the dev's wanted to get even fancier, the personality could apply to default facial expressions both in game and in cutscene.