For All Nails #6a: A Correction

[Note: this post in some sense replaces post 
 #6 as a contribution to the timeline, in ways that should become clear.]

Editorial Page, _New York Herald_
15 April 1969

A Correction

Yesterday's leading editorial, "A Step in the Right Direction", was
actually a fanciful literary exercise, imagining a C.N.A. in which
women were not given the vote in 1908[1].  For the benefit of any readers
confused by our imaginings, we hereby correct the following statements
of "fact" contained there:

1) Women have in fact voted in C.N.A. national elections since 1908.
   They voted earlier in local elections, beginning with the Black
   Hills region of Northern Vandalia in the 1850's.  No responsible
   body has called for women to lose this privilege.

2) Women have served with distinction in auxiliary roles in the C.N.A.
   armed forces since the military buildup preceding the Global War.
   Only in the Nursing Corps and the Air Force, however, do they comprise
   part of the regular chain of command [2].

3) The status of women's suffrage in the remote central Asian nation of
   Pushtunistan is difficult to assess due to the continuing civil war
   there.  At least one faction opposes all participation by women in 
   public life, citing their interpretation of Islamic law[3].  Women are
   allowed to vote in the Denmark region of the Kingdom of Scandinavia [3a].

4) The name and gender of the mayor of the city of Brooklyn was misstated
   in the editorial, along with the content of her speech to the Alliance
   for Women's Equality.  She is Miriam Levine.  The measure she promised,
   and which the City Council approved, concerned the registration of Sapphic
   partnerships with city authorities and consequent extension of benefits.[4]

We regret any misunderstanding caused by this matter.  We hope the 
controversy will encourage contemplation of the role of women in our 
society, and how it may or should change as a consequences of the great
challenges facing our nation.

Notes:

[1] Sobel states in a footnote on page 85 that women were given the vote
    in 1908, but this does not seem to have been at all controversial when
    in happened.  I hadn't noticed this when I wrote FAN #6.  Contributors 
    to FAN have every right to "correct errors" in Sobel, but my imagination
    does not extend to a modern industrial nation without women's suffrage
    unless forced to by the ground rules.

[2] I do like the idea of a Mason-era demonstration project training women
    to fly military aircraft.  In OTL, the "Tuskegee Airmen" were an 
    analogous unit of black male pilots during WWII.  Selected rigorously
    from a large pool of men denied other opportunities, the Airmen were an
    extremely talented group -- one retired as a 3-star general and served
    as US secretary of transportation.    

[3] The history of the Islamic world seems to be quite different in this
    timeline, starting with the fact that the leader of the Ottoman Empire
    before the Global War was called the "Shah".  (A Persian-speaking dynasty
    reached the Ottoman throne at some point?)  But civil war in Pushtunistan
    seems likely enough, and perhaps one faction paralleled the development 
    of the Taliban ideology.  (Note: the authors have later decided that 
    "Shah" was simply a mistake on Sobel's part.)

[3a] The original post asserted that Denmark was part of the German Empire,
    but we know that Copenhagen is the capital of Scandinavia from Henrik's
    subsequent posts.

[4] Gender studies of all sorts in this timeline remain to be explored...

Dave MB