I think NS's position is pretty clear.
She wants to hold onto power until she's sure she can invoke and win another indyref.
She's counting on her focus groups telling her that young voters support self ID.
In the meantime pro-gender identity politics is being adopted in Scottish schools and she only has to wait till these children turn 16 to vote.
Think of it - 2 years and she can use the education system to churn out huge numbers of children sympathetic to the SNP position.
In the meantime, older women are less likely to switch their vote if independence is a hill to die on and if they choose women's rights as their hill, she's still more likely to gain votes from the young than those she loses from women.
It's simple politics. She's decided that this stance has a higher probability of keeping her in power and securing an indyref win in the future.
The sad thing is that's she's probably right.
Most men will value independence over women's rights. The young she can "brainwash".
That leaves women in a very marginalised position with limited choices in who to vote for.
Alba should have been a good thing but it needs Salmond to step away. There needs to be more nuanced voting choices than SNP or nothing if you want independence.
If Scotland does achieve independence then frankly it's politics are likely to disintegrate because it's lost the one thing that holds it together and I think NS knows this - so she's in no hurry to push forward until she feels she's got other manifestos sewn up re: the electorate that will ensure their political domination going forward.
She's not a feminist. She's a very shrewd politician whose purpose is to hang on to her position in the long term.