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Your knowledge of the Soviet space program is lacking. They most certainly did employ female cosmonauts after that--there were women on the Soviet space stations such as Salyut and Mir. Do you believe everything you read in National Review magazine?
Admittedly the Soviets' first female cosmonaut was used mostly for symbolic, propaganda purposes, but think about it--isn't it rather telling that they thought it important to score propaganda points on gender issues vis-a-vis the US, and they put a woman in space in the early 60s, when the US had officially disqualified women from the space program? Regardless of WHY they first launched a female cosmonaut, they still did so 20 years before the US even considered sending a woman into space for any reason. The US still looks lame in comparison. We thought so little of women that we couldn't even contemplate giving one a space mission for propaganda purposes. We were behind the curve on this one--propaganda or no propaganda, just like we trailed the Soviets in space by virtually every yardstick until the late 60s. Deal with it.
