Valentina Tereshkova (selected by Khruschev specifically because of her "proletarian" background) was indeed the first woman in space. Also she was the reason why Korolev said that "There won't be even one more woman in space while I'm alive" (someone alleged that he used c-word instead of "woman"), so first female cosmonaut group was disbanded six years later due to "lack of usefulness" without a single additional flight. Second Soviet woman to go to space was Svetlana Savitskaya - she got her chance 19 years after Tereshkova, because Valentin Glushko (who replaced Korolev's successor Mishin) decided to score some PR points. Even under his leadership all-female crew was never assembled.
Using Soviet space program as an example of equality and representation requires special kind of ignorance.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/how-the-soviets-won-the-space-race-for-equality.html
Valentina Tereshkova (selected by Khruschev specifically because of her "proletarian" background) was indeed the first woman in space. Also she was the reason why Korolev said that "There won't be even one more woman in space while I'm alive" (someone alleged that he used c-word instead of "woman"), so first female cosmonaut group was disbanded six years later due to "lack of usefulness" without a single additional flight. Second Soviet woman to go to space was Svetlana Savitskaya - she got her chance 19 years after Tereshkova, because Valentin Glushko (who replaced Korolev's successor Mishin) decided to score some PR points. Even under his leadership all-female crew was never assembled.
Using Soviet space program as an example of equality and representation requires special kind of ignorance.