GANDHIAN MOVEMENT.pptx

 Gandhi ji was great political leader of
Independent India but believe in Ahimsa
and non-violence. He not only worked for
freedom of India but also worked on social
and political issues. He was working on
the basis of human revolution of the
masses Gandhiji worked for upliftment of
the weaker section of the society like
children, women, scheduled caste and
tribes.

 His efforts plays important role regarding the
status of women in India has been subject to
many great changes over the past few
millennia. From equal status with men in
ancient times through the low points of the
medieval period, to the promotion of equal
rights by many reformers, the history of
women in India has been eventful. In modern
India, women have adorned high offices in
India including that of the President, Prime
minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Leader
of Opposition, etc. The current President of
India is a woman.

 In fact its credit goes to Mahatma Gandhi. In
India he was involved women in Political
movement like Satyagraha. An attempt is
made in the present paper to understand
Gandhi's views on women in the context of
social, economic and political issues. But
Main focus on Political issue.

Gandhi ji’s view on Women
 With Gandhi, for the first time, a distinct
approach to the role of women in society
began to make itself felt. The leadership
realised that women were condemned to
slavery.
 Leadership sought to liberalise the family so
that the women’s activity in the public
domain within politically acceptable limits
could expand.
 But it is to be noted that this liberation
regarding participation of woman in public
sphere was for the interest of men as the

 For the freedom of nation women left the four
boundaries of the house and purdah system
and to liberate themselves from their family-
centered roles and to participate in the
country’s struggle for freedom. Gandhi ji
viewed women’s oppression as universal
problem and lamented about the position of
woman on following points-
Their non-participation in social and political
affairs.
Their sexual Subjugation to their roles as
Man’s plaything.
Their lack of autonomy in the use of their
bodies.
Their backward consciousness which made

 But he also believed that woman has
courage, the endurance and the moral
strength to cope up with these oppressions.
 In his view, these qualities made woman of
natural leaders of a non-violent struggle
against an unjust socio-political system.
 He want to feminise the politics because
women had the potential to give a blow to
the established socio-political power
structure and they could be vanguards of a
non-violent struggle for a just and non-
exploitative socio-political order.

Gandhi ji’s view on sexual division of
labour and education
 He said that man is supreme in the outward
activities of a married world, and therefore, it
is in the fitness of things that he should have
greater knowledge thereof. On the
otherhand, home life is entirely the sphere of
women and therefore, in domestic affairs, in
the upbringing of children and in their
education, women ought to have more
knowledge. Gandhi ji supported this division,

Gandhiji’s view on Women
Liberty
 Gandhi worked not only for the political
emancipation of the nation, but for liberation of
all the suppressed and oppressed sections of
society. One of the note worthy results of his
life-work has been the awakening of women,
which made them shed their deep-rooted sense
of inferiority and rise to dignity and self-
esteem. For Gandhi, "When woman, whom we
all call abala becomes sabala, all those who are
helpless will become powerful". The welfare of
the weaker sections of society was dear to his
heart. He had no doubts about the priority of
social over political ends. In his opinion, to
postpone social reform till after the attainment

Gandhiji’s Influence on Women
 Women, urban and rural, educated and
uneducated, Indian and foreign, were
attracted to his ideas and deeds. While some
like Sarojini Naidu, Lakshmi Menon, Sushila
Nayyar and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur rose to
prominence, there were thousands of unsung
and unnoticed heroines of India who learnt
the meaning of liberation from him and
contributed with all their energy to the
struggle for independence. Life sketches and
reminiscences of women freedom-fighters
give us glimpses of their crusade against
injustice and inequality.

Gandhiji’s view on Women upliftment
 In Vedic times men and women are equal in all walks of life, including
the religious and the intellectual. Therefore, in proclaiming the perfect
equality of men & women.
 Gandhi ji was against the harmful system of child marriage. He
considered such marriage as initio null and void and as such, no
marriage at all.
 All social and religious barriers to widow remarriage. In the case of
adult widows, especially those with children; he would have liked
them to remain true to their marriage vows and to their first love,
rather than to remarry. If a widow could not or did not wish to live
alone, she have every right to remarry and society must not look
down such marriage.
 The purdah system. It crippled not only the free movement of women
but interfered with their advancement and their capacity for doing
work useful to the society.
 The dowry system. For the middle and poor classes it was a
nightmare. It was also on this account that while there was joy on the
male child, there was expressed of silent mourning on the birth of a
female child.

Heavy expenditure in connection with
marriages.
 He wanted to simplify marriage ceremonials.
He was against feasting on such occasions.
Many marriages were celebrated in the
Ashram. All that was done was the recitation
of the simple Ashram prayer and some advice
from Gandhiji to young couple on how they
should live a contended and happy life of
service. At the end of this simple ceremony,
he would present to the couple a copy of
Bhagavad-Gita.
 Gandhi revolutionized not only Indian politics,
but also the whole perception of life for
women.

Gandhiji’s View on Participation of
Women in Politics
 M. K. Gandhi is known to be one of the few people
who encouraged women's active participation in the
freedom struggle-marking him as a rare promoter of
women's liberation. In Gandhi words, "My contribution
to the great problem of women's role in society lies in
my presenting for acceptance of truth and ahimsa in
every walk of life, whether for individuals or nations. I
have hugged the hope that in this, woman will be the
unquestioned leader and, having thus found her place
in human evolution, will shed her inferiority complex.
Women's entry into national politics through non-
violent methods brought miraculous results. On the
one hand, women became aware of their inner
strength, and on the other, the process brought
human and moral elements into politics.

 Gandhi had tremendous faith in women's
inherent capacity for non-violence. And his
experience of participation by women in politics
from his days in South Africa till the end of his
life bears testimony to the fact that they never
failed his expectations. With Gandhi's
inspiration, they took the struggle right into their
homes and raised it to a moral level.

 Women organized public meetings, sold
Khadi and prescribed literature, started
picketing shops of liquor and foreign goods,
prepared contraband salt, and came forward
to face all sorts of atrocities, including
inhuman treatment by police officers and
imprisonment. They came forward to give all
that they had - their wealth and strength,
their jewellery and belongings, their skills
and labour-all with sacrifices for this unusual
and unprecedented struggle.

 Gandhi's call to women to involve themselves
in the freedom struggle had far-reaching results
in changing their outlook. "The cause of Swaraj
swept all taboos and old customs before it".
Many women in their individual lives shed their
age-old prejudices against the caste system.
They had no hesitation in leaving the
boundaries of their protected homes and going
to the jail. They even broke their glass bangles
(a sign of ill omen for married women) when
they were told that they were made of
Czechoslovakian glass. Women's participation
in the freedom struggle feminized nationalism
and the nationalist struggle helped them to
liberate from age-old traditions.

 Though Gandhi never challenged the
traditional set up, he inspired women to carve
out their own destinies within it, and thereby
changing its very essence. Women learnt
from Gandhi that one can be strong, even if
seemingly weak, to protest against injustice.
They realised that they do not have to accept
the norms of male-dominated politics. They
evolved their own perspectives and
formulated their own methods. In a way they
presented a critique of the colonial unethical
state.

 Gandhi could see woman as connected with
service and not with power. When a woman
wrote to him in 1946 about the political scene
and the paucity of women in it, he wrote: "So
long as considerations of caste and community
continue to weigh with us and rule our choice,
women will be well-advised to remain aloof and
thereby build up their prestige.

 Women workers should enroll women as
voters, impart or have imparted to them
practical education, teach them to think
independently, release them from the chains
of caste that bind them so as to bring about a
change in them which will compel men to
realise women's strength and capacity for
sacrifice and give her places of honour. If they
will do this, they will purify the present unclear
atmosphere."

 His advice to women was to teach people in
villages simple lessons of hygiene and
sanitation. Seeking power would be, for them,
"reversion of barbarity". And still Gandhi
believed that, "Women must have votes and an
equal status. But the problem does not end
there. It only commences at the point where
women begin to affect the political deliberations
of the nation."

 Women were firstly participated in first non-
cooperation moment within the limitations of
their social conditions. Gandhi placed
emphasis on spinning because it could be
carried at home. Women were encouraged to
tear down the veil, come out to attained street
meetings and join processions.
 1000 women marched in a procession in
Bombay to oppose the visit of the Prince of
Wales in November 1921.
 In Bardoli Satyagrah in 1928, women were not
seen at first. Yet after sometime, they
outnumbered the men in political gatherings
and even held their own separate meetings.

 In 1930, Gandhi ji announced that he would
launch a civil disobedience movement by
breaking salt law. His plan was to walk from
sabarmati Ashram to Dandi. In the first Batch
women were not included but after that women
were seen everywhere.
 Many women like Khurshidbehan Naraoji and
Mridula Sarabhai jumped in the struggle despite
of restraint. They were arrested in Ahmedabad.
Ahmedabad saw a grand procession managed
by saffron-saree clad volunteers of Videshi
Kapade Bahiskar Samiti.
 On 1st June, 1930, 11 women took part in the
Wadala raid orgainised by the Bombay
Provisional Congress Committee in which
Lilawati Munshi took an active part. They were
all arrested and detained in the salt prevention

 There was no opposition of Gandhi by man for
Drawing their women out on the streets to
participate in national movement because
Gandhiji did not challenge the established
patriarchical order. He felt that woman is not
inferior to man in anyway but her work is
somewhat different than man and not ask
women to break their fetters
 Gandhiji advised the women that if they want to
serve the country then they better have to be
remained unmarried. Women like Dr.
Shusheela Nayar and Ushaben Thakkar
followed this advise. For dedicated couples, he
advised not to have children. Acharya Kriplani
and Sucheta followed this advise.

Reform Through Legal System
 Gandhi ji criticised women leaders for foolishly
thinking that any law or code could solve their
problems. Many elite women seemed to be
agree. Yet they continue to work to improve legal
system. They aimed at gaining legal measures
for improving the position of women and have
given following points-
- Equalise women’s right to divorce.
- Systematise matters.
- Give protection in the case of dissertation.
- Grant them guardianship over their children.
- Make it possible for females to obtain a share in
the family property.

Women with Gandhi in Freedom
movement
 Annie Besant.
 Aloo Dasrur.
 Usha Mehta
 Sarojini Naidu.
 Sucheta Kriplani.

GANDHI ON MARRIAGE AND
DIVORCE
 The Marriage Deal

 He ideal that marriage aims at is that of spiritual
union through the physical. The human love that it
incarnates is intended to serve as a stepping–
stone to divine or universal love.
 Absolute renunciation, absolute brahmacharya, is
the ideal state. If you dare not think of it, marry by
all means, but even then live a life of self-control.
 The idea of absolute brahmacharya or of married
brahmacharya is for those who aspire to spiritual
or higher life; it is the sine qua non of such life.
 Marriage is a natural thing in life, and to consider it
derogatory in any sense is wholly wrong….. The
ideal is to look upon marriage as a sacrament, and
therefore, to lead a life of self-restraint in the

 Marriage for the satisfaction of sexual
appetite is no marriage. It is uyabhichara-
concupiscence.
 Manu has described the first child as
dharmaja-born out of a sense of duty, and
children born after the first as kamaja –
carnally born. That gives in a nutshell the law
of sexual relations. And what is God but the
Law? And to obey god is to perform the Law.

 Sexual intercourse for the purpose of carnal
satisfaction is reversion to animality, and it
should, therefore, be man’s endeavour to
rise above it. But failure to do so as between
husband and wife cannot be regarded as a
sin or a matter of obloquy. Millions in this
world eat for the satisfaction of their palate;
similarly, millions of the husbands and wives
indulge in the sexual act for their carnal
satisfaction and will continue to do so and
also pay the inexorable penalty in the shape
of numberless ills with which nature visits all
violations of its order.

 Undefiled love between husband and wife
takes one nearer God than any other love.
When sex is mixed with the undefiled love,
it takes one away from one’s Maker.
Hence, if there be no sex consciousness
and sexual contact, it is a question
whether there is an occasion for marriage.

Aim of Marriage
 Those marriages which are undertaken for the sake of
joint service carry their own blessings. Those entered
upon for self-satisfaction are wholly unworthy of any.
 Rightly speaking, the true purpose of marriage should
be and is intimate friendship and companionship
between man and woman. There is in it no room for
sexual satisfaction. That marriage is no marriage which
takes place for the satisfaction of the sex desire. That
satisfaction is a denial of true friendship.
 I know of English marriages undertaken for the sake of
companionship and mutual service. If a reference to my
own married life is not considered irrelevant, I may say
that my wife and I tasted the real bliss o married life
when we renounced sexual contact, and that in the
heyday of youth. It was then that our companionship
blossomed and both of us were enabled to render real
service to India and humanity in general…… Indeed,
this self-denial was born out of our great desire for

 Of course, innumerable marriages take
place in the natural course of events and
such will continue. The physical side of
married life is given pre-eminence in these.
 Innumerable persons eat in order to satisfy
the palate, but such indulgence does not,
therefore, became one’s duty. Very few eat
to live, but they are the one who really know
the law of eating. Similarly, those only really
marry who marry in order to experience the
purity and sanctity of the marriage tie and
thereby realize the divinity within.

Connubial Relations
 The wife is not the husband’s bondslave, but his companion and his help-mate,
and an equal partner in all his joys and sorrows- as free as the husband to
choose her own path.
 For me, the married state is as much a state of discipline as any other. life is duty,
a probation. Married life is intended to promote mutual good, both here and here
after. It is meant also to serve humanity.
 When one partner breaks the law of discipline, the right accrues to the other of
breaking the bond. The breach here is moral and not physical. It precludes
divorce. The wife or the husband separates but to serve the end for which they
have united.
 Hinduism regards each as absolute equal of the other. No doubt a different
practice has grown up, no one knows since when. But we have many other evils
crept into it. This, however, I do know – that Hinduism leaves the individual
absolutely free to do what he or she likes for the sake of self-realization for which
and which alone he or she is born.
 My ideal of a wife is Sita and of a husband Rama. But Sita was no slave of
Rama. Or each was slave of the other. Rama is ever considerate to Sita.
 You will guard your wife's honour and be not her master, but her true friend. You
will hold her body and your soul as sacred as I trust she will hold her body and
your soul. To that end you will have to live a life of prayerful toil, and simplicity
and self-restraint. Let not either of you regard another as the object of his or her
lust .
 I admit that between husband and wife there should be no secret from one
another. I hold that husband and wife merge in each other. They are one in two or
two in one.

 Forced Marriage
 It is wholly wrong of parents to force
marriage on their daughters. It is also wrong
to keep their daughters unfit for earning their
living. No father has a right to turn a daughter
out on to the streets for refusal to marry.
 Civil Marriage
 I do not believe in them (civil marriage), but I
welcome the institution of civil marriage as a
much–needed reform.

DIVORCE
 Marriage confirms the right of union between
two partners to the exclusion of all the others
when in their joint opinion they consider such
union to be desirable, but it confers no right
upon one partner to demand obedience of the
other to one's wish for union. What should be
done when one partner on moral or other
grounds cannot conform to the wishes of the
other is a separate question. Personally, if
divorce was the only alternative, I should not
hesitate to accept it, rather than interrupt my
moral progress, assuming that I want to restrain
myself on purely moral grounds.

WIDOW REMARRIAGE
 When a child-widow is totally ignorant of any dharma,
how can we expect her to understand the dharma of a
widow? Living a life of dharma implies an understanding
of what dharma means. Can we say that a child who
simply does not understand the distinction between right
and wrong is guilty of a falsehood? A child-widow of nine
years does not understand the meaning of marriage, nor
of widowhood. She is, as far as she is concerned,
unmarried. How, then, can we say that she has become a
widow? She was married by her parents, and it is they
who think that she has become a widow? If, therefore, the
widow’s life earns merit for anyone, it does so for the
parents. But can they really earn such merit at the
sacrifice of a nine year old girl? Even if they can, the
problem of the girl’s future is still with us. Let us suppose
that she has grown into a young woman of twenty years.
As she gradually came to understand things, she realized
from the attitude of the people round her that she was
regarded as a widow.

 But let us suppose she has not understood a
widow’s dharma, and also that, by the time she
was twenty, the natural impulses had grown in
her and become strong. What should she do
now? She cannot say anything to her parents,
for they have already decided that their
daughter a young woman now was a widow and
that marriage was out of the question for her.
This is only an imaginary instance. But there are
many Hindu widows in the country, thousands of
them, whom this description will fit. As we have
seen, they earn merit for none by living as
widows. Whom shall we hold responsible for the
many sins into which these young women fall in
yielding to desire?

 According to me, their parents certainly share in
their sin; but the evil is a blot on Hinduism too,
the latter loses its vitality day by day, and
immorality flourishes in the name of dharma.
That is why, though I once held the same views
as this sister. The correspondent had said that
she could not understand why Gandhiji
advocated freedom for child-widows to remarry,
since the life of self-denial which tradition
required them to live helped to conquer passion
and was, therefore, spiritually uplifting.
experience, that a child-widow who, on growing
up to womanhood, may wish to marry, should
have complete freedom, and be encouraged to
do so; not only that, her parents should make
every effort to get her suitably married.

 As things are, vices flourish in the name of
virtue. Even if, as suggested here, child-
widows are remarried, pure widowhood will
continue to adorn Hinduism. If a woman who
has known conjugal love, on becoming a
widow, deliberately refuses to marry again,
her self-control will not have been imposed
on her from outside. There is no power on
earth which can tempt her to marry. Her
freedom is forever safe. It is immoral to
assume a spiritual union where there has
been none. Such a union simply cannot exist
between a child-husband and a child-wife.
Savitri entered into a spiritual union, so did
Sita and Damayanti.

 We cannot even imagine such women,
should they become widows, ever marrying
again. Ramibai Ranade lived such a pure life
in her widowhood. Today, Vasantidevi lives in
this manner. Their virtuous life as widows
ennobles the Hindu way of life, sanctifies it.
Through the supposed widowhood of girls
who are only children, Hindu society sinks
lower day by day.

 Women who became widows after they had
grown up into womanhood should, while they
continue to live worthily as widows, come
forward to help child-widows to remarry and
to spread the reform among the Hindus.
Other women who share the views of this
correspondent should see their error in
supposing that dharma can be preserved by
perpetuating the misfortune of child-widows. I
have been led to this conclusion, not by my
sympathy for sufferings of child-widows, but
by profounder considerations about dharma
which guide my heart in this matter; and I
have tried to explain them here.

 The total of 1921 is a trifle higher than for the two
(previous) decades They only demonstrate still further
the enormity of the wrong done to the Hindu girl
widows. We cry out for cow-protection in the name of
religion, but we refuse protection to the girl widow. In
the name of religion we force widowhood upon our
three lakhs of girl widows who could not understand
the import of the marriage ceremony. To force
widowhood upon little girls is a brutal crime for which
we Hindus are daily paying dearly. If our conscience
was truly awakened there would be no marriage before
15, let alone widowhood, and we would declare that
these three lakhs of girls were never married.
Voluntary widowhood consciously adopted by a
woman who has felt the affection of a partner adds
grace and dignity to life, sanctifies the home and uplifts
religions itself. Widowhood imposed by religion or

 If we would be pure, if we would save
Hinduism, we must rid ourselves of this
poison of enforced widowhood. The reform
must begin by those who have girl widows
taking courage in both their hands and
seeing that the child widows in their charge
are duly and well married - not remarried.
They were never really married.

 Widow-remarriage is no sin - if it be, it is as
much a sin as the marriage of a widower is. All
widowhood is not holy. It is an adornment to
her who can observe it. If this sister has the
courage, then let her speak out her mind to
her uncle and brothers and seek their help. It
they cannot assist in the marriage, then the
sister will have to quit their house and take
refuge in some widow-remarriage institution. -
(Translated from the Hindi Navajivan of 9-5-
29.)

 Some Brahman students told me that they
cannot follow this principle, that they cannot get
Brahman girls sixteen years old, very few
Brahmans keep their daughters unmarried till
that age, the Brahman girls are married mostly
before 10, 12 and 13 years. Then I say to the
Brahman youth, ‘Cease to be Brahman if you
cannot possibly control yourself. Choose a
grown up girl of 16 who became a widow when
she was a child. If you cannot get a Brahman
widow who has reached that age, then go and
take any girl you like. And I tell you that the God
of the Hindus will pardon that boy who has
preferred to marry out of his caste rather than
ravish a girl of twelve.

GANDHI ON DOWRY SYSTEM
 The system has to go. Marriage must cease to be a
matter of arrangement made by parents for money.
The system is intimately connected with caste. So
long as the choice is restricted to a few hundred-
young men or young women of a particular caste, the
system, will persist no matter what is said against it.
The girls or boys or their parents will have to break
the bonds of caste if the evil is to be eradicated. All
this means education of a character that will
revolutionize the mentality of the youth of the nation.
 There should be work done in the schools and
colleges and amongst the parents of girls. The
parents should so educate their daughters that they
would refuse to marry a young man who wanted a
price for marrying and would rather remain spinsters
than be party to the degrading terms. The only
honourable terms in marriage are mutual love and

 Dealing with the question Gandhiji said that his
opinion was definite. In the first instance there should
be no possibility of child widows. He was averse to
child marriages. It was an evil custom which
unfortunately the namashudras had perhaps taken
from the so-called higher castes.
 Gandhiji was also against the system of dowry. It was
nothing but the sale of girls. That there should be
castes even amongst namashudras was deplorable
and he would strongly advise them to abolish all
caste-distinctions amongst themselves. And in this
they should bear in mind the opinion the speaker had
often expressed that all caste-distinctions should be
abolished, and there should be only one caste,
namely, bhangis and all Hindus should take pride in
being called bhangis and nothing else. This applied
to the namashudras as well.

 When child marriages were abolished,
naturally there would be few, if any, young
widows. As a general rule he was for one
man one wife for life, and one woman one
husband for life. Custom had familiarized
women in the so-called higher castes with
enforced widowhood. Contrary was the rule
with men. He called it a disgrace, but whilst
society was in that pitiable condition, he
advocated widow remarriage for all young
widows. He believed in equality of the sexes
and, therefore, he could only think of the
same rights for women as men.

The Purdah
 Chastity is not a hot-house growth. It cannot be
protected by the surrounding wall of the purdah. It must
grow from within, and to be worth anything it must be
capable of withstanding every unsought temptation.
 And why is thee all this morbid anxiety about female
purity? Have women any say in the matter of male
purity? We hear nothing of women's anxiety about men's
chastity. Why should men arrogate to themselves the
right to regulate female purity? It cannot be
superimposed from without. It is a matter of evolution
from within and therefore of individual self-effort. - YI,
25-11-26, 415.
 811. Q. Do you not think that a strict enforcement of the
purdah system would improve the moral condition of
women?

 A. Gandhiji was warned by some Muslim critics
against speaking on the purdah. He had
therefore some hesitation in speaking about it.
But he took heart when he turned round and
saw that many Hindu women observed it and
that numerous Malaya Muslim women of whom
he had many friends did not observe the
purdah. He also knew many distinguished
Muslim women of India who did not observe it.
Lastly the real purdah was of the heart. A
woman who peeped through the purdah and
contemplated a male on whom her gaze fell
violated the spirit behind it. If a woman observed
it in spirit, she was truly carrying out what the
great Prophet had said.

Source
 Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav, “Widow
Remarriage and Mahatma Gandhi”
in The Gandhi-King Community.
Available at
https://gandhiking.ning.com/profiles/bl
ogs/widow-remarriage-and-mahatma-
gandhi-1.
 Dr. Puja Khetrapal on Gender Justice
and Feminist Jurisprudence.

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