TRIBUTE

Gandhi and Women

Gandhiji was not only a great political leader but also a passionate lover of humanity. With his deep faith in non-violence he was against all inequality in any walk of life, political, social or economic. He held that inequality ultimately led to exploitation which he believed was another form of violence.

Dalits, women and poor were suffering injustice and inequality. Gandhiji, therefore, gave his highest priority in improving their lot. In his Ashram all the inmates, engaged in physical or intellectual work, were treated as equals. Gandhiji made no distinction between men and women. He had almost an instinctive understanding of women and their problems and an abiding sympathy for them. Though preoccupied with enormous responsibilities the Mahatma took every opportunity to proclaim his views on women and educate the public to accept women as equal partners.

In ancient India, during the Vedic period, men and women were equal in all respects, including religious and intellectual fields. Therefore, in proclaiming the perfect equality of men and women Gandhiji claimed that he was following the authority of ancient scriptures and others. Though at the dawn of India’s history women enjoyed an exceptionally high status. The later Hindu and medieval period showed a striking contrast to the old. For example, the Vedic word dampati means, etymologically, the joint owners of the house. The Vedic women was no less entitled than the man to all sanskaras or sacraments. However, in the later period Manu is often quoted for disparaging women and relegating them to a lowly status. Gandhiji says :

"The saying attributed to Manu that for women there can be no freedom is not to be sacrosanct. It only shows that probably at the time, when it was promulgated, women were kept in a state of subjection ..." Gandhiji decried discrimination against women as anachronism : "To call the women the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to women. If by strength is meant brute strength then indeed is women less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then women is immeasurably man’s superior ..." Again he says : "I am uncompromising in the matter of women’s rights. In my opinion she should labour under no legal disability... I should treat daughters and sons on a footing of perfect equality." Gandhiji was against the system of child marriage. He considered such marriages null and void. A child widow was not, therefore, in reality a widow but a maiden and must be treated as such : "We cry for cow protection in the name of religion ... but in the name of religion we force widowhood upon our girls who could not understood the import of marriage ceremony. To force widowhood upon little girls is a brutal crime ... there is no warrant in any Shastra for such widowhood."

The Father of the Nation invited the women of India to participate in the Satyagraha movement not only because, he felt, they were equal to men but also because they possessed virtues which made them superior to men in a non-violent fight which requires infinite patience and silent suffering. He says : "Women is the incarnation of Ahimsa. Ahimsa means infinite love, which again means infinite capacity for suffering, who but women, the mother of man, shows this capacity in the largest measure?"

- Praveen Davar