The Gandhian Legacy: Relevance for Today’s Women’s Movement

Mahatma Gandhi’s influence on India’s freedom struggle is undeniable, but his legacy for the women’s movement presents a more complex picture. While Gandhi brought women into the political mainstream and championed their moral strength, his views also contained contradictions that modern feminists continue to grapple with. Understanding this duality helps us appreciate both what Gandhian principles can offer today’s women’s movements and where they fall short.

Satyagraha as an inclusive framework for modern struggles
Contradictions in Gandhi’s vision: patriarchal undertones
From Salt Satyagraha to modern anti-liquor movements
The shift from political action to depoliticization
Unfinished mission: gender parity and political representation
Embracing complexity, moving forward

Satyagraha as an inclusive framework for modern struggles

Contemporary feminism has evolved to recognize the interconnectedness of various forms of oppression. Today’s feminist movements analyze not only sexism but also racism, classism, and imperialism as interrelated systems of oppression. This intersectional approach finds a surprising ally in Gandhi’s philosophy of Satyagraha.

Gandhi’s truth-force was never limited to a single cause. He sought creative, nonviolent solutions to all forms of oppression, whether it was British colonial rule, caste discrimination, or the subjugation of women. Gandhi saw injustice and exploitation as phenomena that must be resisted wherever they are found, not only in the political field. This holistic view makes Satyagraha remarkably compatible with modern movements that recognize multiple, overlapping forms of discrimination.

Gandhian movements transformed the political landscape by bringing together women from diverse backgrounds, including peasant women, upper-caste and middle-class women, upper-class Muslim women, and tribal women. This cross-class, cross-caste mobilization demonstrated how nonviolent resistance could serve as a unifying force across social divisions.

The principles of Satyagraha remain valuable tools for learning and organizing, though contemporary movements must not view them as the sole framework for feminist action. Modern ideas around bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, and economic independence require frameworks Gandhi himself may not have envisioned. The key lies in drawing inspiration from his methods while adapting them to present realities.

Contradictions in Gandhi’s vision: patriarchal undertones

Any honest assessment of Gandhi’s relevance to feminism must acknowledge the tensions within his thinking. While Gandhi wanted women to assume more domestic or home-centered jobs like spinning, reinforcing the gendered public-private division, his recognition of the role women could play in Satyagraha suggested there was no complete rigidity about these roles.

Gandhi held certain views that reflected the patriarchal norms of his time. He saw wives as ideally following their husband’s religious and social identity. While advocating for women’s education, Gandhi made distinctions between the education of men and women based on perceived natural differences, reinforcing traditional gender roles rather than promoting full equality. Child-rearing was viewed primarily as women’s work, integral to building national character, placing the burden of moral education solely on mothers.

Gandhi’s insistence on moral purity created divisions among women, as he excluded sex workers from Congress campaigns, reinforcing a distinction between those he viewed as morally ideal and those he did not. At his Sabarmati Ashram, women were required to donate their gold jewelry for the cause of Swaraj, reflecting expectations that may have placed undue burdens on female participants.

These contradictions reveal a man struggling between his ideals of equality and the social realities of his time. Gandhi sometimes defaulted to conservative positions on women’s roles even while championing their political participation. He acknowledged that he had tried to dominate his wife Kasturba in their early years, later recognizing this as a profound mistake and crediting her with teaching him the lesson of nonviolence through her dignified resistance.

From Salt Satyagraha to modern anti-liquor movements

Perhaps no episode better illustrates how Gandhian methods empowered women’s political participation than the Salt Satyagraha of 1930. The civil disobedience movement in 1930 marked the first time women became mass participants in the struggle for freedom, with thousands from large cities to small villages joining as active participants in Satyagraha.

Gandhi had initially asked that only men take part in the salt march. But on April 6, 1930, a group of women led by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay marched to Chowpatty beach and started making salt from seawater on makeshift stoves. When Kamaladevi was struck by a police lathi and fell into hot coals, suffering severe burns, she refused to abandon the protest. This courage inspired countless others.

The most striking part in the campaign was played by women belonging to all sections of society. Even the aged Kasturba Gandhi participated in picketing. Sarojini Naidu led the protest at the Dharasana Salt Works in May 1930 after Gandhi’s arrest, with women from different backgrounds actively making and selling salt in defiance of British laws.

This spirit of women-led nonviolent resistance found powerful expression decades later in the anti-arrack movement in Andhra Pradesh. In January 1990, state-organized mass literacy campaigns led to women getting together and discussing their problems, where they discovered that cheap country liquor was destroying their families economically and through domestic violence.

The movement began in the village of Dubagunta in Nellore district, where a woman named Rosamma took a stand that would inspire thousands. Armed with determination rather than weapons, poor rural women organized dharnas, human chains, and awareness rallies. Within months, the movement spread across districts, forcing the state government to ban arrack in 1993 and eventually implement total prohibition in 1995.

In 1991-92, the average annual family income in Andhra Pradesh was Rs 1,840, of which Rs 830 was spent on liquor. These rural women, who had no autonomy in any sphere of life, took it upon themselves to fight against production and sale of arrack. They understood what Gandhi had taught: that personal suffering could be transformed into collective political power.

The shift from political action to depoliticization

While Gandhi succeeded in bringing women into active political participation during the freedom struggle, a troubling trend has emerged in contemporary India. Many educated, middle-class women have shifted away from direct political engagement toward NGO-based social work or consumerism, becoming what critics describe as depoliticized.

This shift represents a movement away from the frontlines of political contestation toward more comfortable forms of civic participation. While NGO work and social entrepreneurship serve valuable purposes, they can also create distance from the structural political changes needed to address deep-seated national problems like poverty, caste discrimination, and gender violence.

The contrast between the women who led the anti-arrack movement, mostly poor and many illiterate, and urban middle-class women’s engagement patterns today raises important questions. The movement transcended traditional social boundaries, bringing together women from different castes, economic backgrounds, and political affiliations through a shared experience of suffering. Such cross-class solidarity has become increasingly rare.

Gandhi warned against this kind of disconnect. He believed that those with education and resources had special obligations to serve those without. When comfortable classes retreat from direct political engagement, they risk losing touch with the struggles of rural and marginalized women, leaving Gandhi’s vision of collective empowerment unfulfilled.

Unfinished mission: gender parity and political representation

Perhaps the starkest measure of how far Gandhi’s mission remains from completion is women’s representation in India’s political institutions. In 2024, India elected 74 female Members of Parliament to the Lok Sabha, representing only 13.6% of total seats. This was actually a decrease from previous elections.

India ranks 143 out of 185 countries in terms of women’s representation in Parliament, lagging behind countries like Sweden (46%), South Africa (45%), and even Pakistan and Bangladesh. The global average stands at approximately 26%, nearly double India’s current representation.

While India granted voting rights to all women from its first general elections in 1952, the gap between voting and actual representation has remained stubbornly persistent. Women’s participation in political parties remained low through the 1990s, with only 10-12% membership consisting of women.

Increasing violence and criminalization in politics has driven women out of the political arena. The patriarchal norms, lack of family support, and limited access to political funding continue to create barriers that Gandhi’s generation could not have fully anticipated. The Women’s Reservation Bill, first introduced in 1996 to reserve 33% of parliamentary seats for women, took decades to pass and will only take effect after the next census and delimitation exercise.

Despite impressive increases in turnout of women voters in elections, opening up spaces for participation of women in electoral politics has been a slow process due to deep-rooted structural constraints. The persistence of caste divisions alongside gender discrimination creates compounded barriers that require intersectional solutions.

Gandhi believed that India’s salvation depended on the sacrifice and enlightenment of her women. He envisioned women transitioning from being called “abala” (without strength) to “sabala” (with strength), noting that when this transformation occurs, all those who are helpless will become powerful. This transformation remains incomplete.

Embracing complexity, moving forward

The Gandhian legacy offers the women’s movement both inspiration and caution. His methods of nonviolent resistance, his recognition of women’s moral strength, and his call for their equal participation in public life remain powerful resources. At the same time, his patriarchal assumptions remind us that no historical figure, however revered, should be followed uncritically.

Modern movements can learn from how Gandhi mobilized women across caste and class lines while also learning from contemporary frameworks that address issues he overlooked. The anti-arrack movement showed that poor, marginalized women can lead transformative change when they organize around their lived experiences. This is the living spirit of Satyagraha, adapted to new contexts and challenges.

What do you think? Can Gandhi’s principles of nonviolent resistance still serve as effective tools for addressing modern gender inequalities? How might contemporary women’s movements honor his legacy while transcending his limitations?

References

PDF 📄

The Gandhian Legacy: Relevance for Today’s Women’s Movement

Table of Contents

Satyagraha as an inclusive framework for modern struggles 🔗

Contradictions in Gandhi’s vision: patriarchal undertones 🔗

From Salt Satyagraha to modern anti-liquor movements 🔗

The shift from political action to depoliticization 🔗

Unfinished mission: gender parity and political representation 🔗

Embracing complexity, moving forward 🔗