Gandhi’s Views on the Rights of Women

Mahatma Gandhi’s engagement with women’s rights was not a peripheral concern but central to his vision of India’s freedom and social transformation. Unlike earlier reformers who viewed women as helpless beings in need of protection, Gandhi saw women as powerful agents of change-equal to men in their capacities and, in many ways, morally superior. His philosophy on women intertwined with his core beliefs in ahimsa (non-violence) and satyagraha (truth-force), making women indispensable partners in the struggle for independence.

Championing equal rights and partnership 🔗

Gandhi was unequivocal in his belief that men and women were fundamentally equal. He argued that since the same soul dwells in both, they must enjoy the same rights and opportunities. As he stated, men and women are perfectly equal in the eyes of God because the soul is sexless.

He viewed marriage not as a relationship of dominance but as a partnership of equals. For Gandhi, a wife was not a slave but a comrade, a better half, and a colleague. He believed the wife should be a co-sharer with equal rights and duties, and their obligations towards each other and the world must be reciprocal. He advocated for mutual consent, mutual love, and mutual respect between husband and wife.

Gandhi was deeply critical of practices that subjugated women. He urged women to cease considering themselves objects of men’s lust and to rebel against being treated as playthings. He opposed the customs of dowry, child marriage, purdah (veil), and sati-all practices that he saw as manifestations of men’s unjust domination over women.

Opposition to harmful practices 🔗

Gandhi opposed female infanticide, recognizing that daughters were often unwelcome due to the burden of dowry. He insisted that parents should rejoice equally at the birth of boys and girls. He condemned child marriage as a moral and physical evil that denied girls their education and converted them into child widows. He called the dowry system pernicious because it turned young girls into chattels to be bought and sold.

The purdah system, Gandhi argued, was inhuman and immoral. It denied women freedom, fresh air, and sunlight while crippling their advancement and capacity for useful work. He believed chastity could not be superimposed through seclusion but must grow from within. He appealed to women to cast off the veil and enter public life.

Women as moral and spiritual teachers 🔗

Gandhi held women in high regard as repositories of spiritual and moral values. He saw them as natural teachers to men, possessing qualities of sacrifice, patience, and suffering that made them ideal moral guides. He drew inspiration from mythological figures like Sita, Savitri, Damayanti, and Draupadi-women he praised not for their passivity but for their moral courage and strength.

Draupadi, in particular, he described as someone who bent even the mighty Bhima to her will. She stood in no need of protection and exemplified independence and fearlessness. Gandhi encouraged Indian women to emulate such figures and become independent and strong.

Learning from Kasturba 🔗

Gandhi’s own wife, Kasturba, profoundly shaped his understanding of women’s moral power. In his youth, Gandhi had attempted to dominate her, but her dignified resistance taught him valuable lessons. He later acknowledged learning the lesson of non-violence from his wife when he tried to bend her to his will. Her determined yet peaceful resistance ultimately cured him of his belief that he was born to rule her.

He spoke of Kasturba as embodying sacrifice, silent suffering, humility, faith, and knowledge-qualities he considered indispensable for successful satyagraha. She became the model for other women to emulate in the freedom struggle.

Women as incarnations of ahimsa 🔗

Perhaps Gandhi’s most distinctive contribution to the discourse on women was his identification of women with ahimsa. In 1940, reviewing his twenty-five years of work regarding women’s role in society, he articulated his vision clearly. He expressed hope that women would become unquestioned leaders in the practice of truth and non-violence. He declared that woman is the incarnation of ahimsa, explaining that ahimsa means infinite love, which again means infinite capacity for suffering.

Gandhi posed a rhetorical question: who but woman, the mother of man, shows this capacity for suffering in the largest measure? He urged women to translate their natural capacity for love and sacrifice to the whole of humanity. By doing so, they would occupy their proud position beside men and could become leaders in satyagraha.

The superiority of moral strength 🔗

Gandhi redefined the concept of strength itself. To him, calling women the weaker sex was a libel and gross injustice. He argued that true bravery lay in dying rather than killing, in suffering rather than inflicting pain. By this measure, women’s courage in self-sacrifice was superior to men’s brute force.

He believed strength meant moral power, and by this standard, women were immeasurably superior to men. He went so far as to advise men to copy the standards observed by women rather than the reverse. This was a radical departure from conventional thinking that positioned women as inferior and in need of protection.

Natural leaders in non-violent resistance 🔗

Gandhi believed that satyagraha required qualities of the heart more than book-learning. Since women naturally possessed infinite love and the capacity for suffering, they were ideally suited to lead non-violent movements. The technique of satyagraha countered imperial brute force with spiritual strength-a domain where women excelled.

He noted that the penetration of the heart comes from suffering, and women had an innate ability to move others through purposeful, visible sacrifice. This made them powerful instruments for social change without resorting to violence.

Women in the nationalist struggle 🔗

Under Gandhi’s leadership, women participated in the freedom movement in unprecedented numbers. The civil disobedience campaign of 1930 is widely regarded as a watershed moment for women’s activism in India. While Gandhi had initially asked that only men participate in the Salt March itself, women eventually became mass participants throughout the country.

The Salt Satyagraha transformation 🔗

The 1930 Salt March became a turning point for women’s political participation. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay persuaded Gandhi not to restrict the protests to men alone. Soon thousands of women were breaking the salt law and leading protests across the country. They stood at street corners with packets of salt, selling what they called “the salt of freedom.”

When Gandhi was arrested, the Dharasana Satyagraha continued under the leadership of Abbas Tyabji with Kasturba Gandhi at his side. After their arrest, Sarojini Naidu, the renowned poet and freedom fighter, took charge. She led over 2,000 volunteers to raid the Dharasana salt depot, warning them not to use violence under any circumstances even when beaten.

Diverse contributions to freedom 🔗

Women contributed to the freedom movement in multiple ways. They manufactured and sold contraband salt, picketed liquor shops and establishments selling foreign cloth, and participated in processions and demonstrations. The most striking part of the campaign was played by women from all sections of society, including aged leaders like Kasturba Gandhi and Mrs. Motilal Nehru.

The spinning of khadi became a particularly powerful symbol. Gandhi’s promotion of hand-spun cloth resonated with women because it transformed domestic activity into an act of political resistance. Thousands of women participated by wearing khadi, picketing shops, and promoting self-reliance.

Breaking traditional barriers 🔗

Women set aside their traditional roles and came out of seclusion during the freedom struggle. They cast off purdah, entered the public domain alongside men, and remained undaunted by police beatings and hardships in prison. Even illiterate tribal women from remote areas joined the movement, demonstrating how Gandhi’s call had penetrated all sections of society.

This participation had lasting effects. Families that supported women’s involvement became more open to women’s education and career aspirations. Women gained organizational skills, confidence, and political agency that they carried into post-independence India. The movement planted seeds that would bloom in later women’s rights movements.

A complex legacy 🔗

Gandhi’s views on women were not without tensions. While advocating equality, he also believed that home life was primarily women’s sphere and that their education should reflect this role. He held up ideals of sacrifice and suffering that some critics argue placed disproportionate burdens on women without demanding equivalent sacrifices from men.

Yet his fundamental contribution remains significant. He moved beyond the patronizing attitude of earlier reformers who sought merely to protect helpless women. Instead, he recognized women’s inherent power and called upon them to realize it themselves. His message at the All India Women’s Conference in 1936 captured this vision: when woman, whom we call abala (weak), becomes sabala (strong), all who are helpless will become powerful.

Gandhi believed such empowerment could not be bestowed through legislation or assistance from men. Women had to gather strength to stand on their own, to lift themselves by their own efforts. This philosophy of self-empowerment through non-violent action remains relevant today.

What do you think? Did Gandhi’s identification of women with ahimsa and suffering inadvertently reinforce traditional expectations, or did it genuinely empower women by redefining strength itself? How might his philosophy of women as natural leaders in non-violent movements apply to contemporary social justice movements?

References

1. https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-articles/gandhi-on-gender-violence-and-gender-equality.php
2. https://www.satyagrahafoundation.org/mahatma-gandhis-views-on-women-and-social-change/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_March
4. https://sociology.institute/sociology-of-gender/women-gandhi-nonviolent-struggle-indian-independence/
5. https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/salt_satya.php
6. https://blogs.bl.uk/sound-and-vision/2022/12/recording-of-the-week-acts-of-protest-women-and-the-indian-independence-movement.html
7. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/ahmisa-non-violence-gandhi-and-global-citizenship-education-gced