I have mentally become a woman in order to steal into her heart. –M.

K Gandhi

Gandhi on Women’s Question

An assessment of Gandhi on women’s question is a difficult task. At one level Gandhi appears to
be influenced by his patriarchal upbringing rooted in the firm belief about the traditional role
assigned to women as per his understanding of the ancient Indian scriptures. At another level
Gandhi emerges as a social reformer concerned about the backwardness of women in India. In
this avatar he champions the rights of women as equal partners of men. At still another level
Gandhi sees women as a potential resource for the success of his movements, both political and
social, and advocates their increased participation. Here too Gandhi’s faith in women’s power is
born out of a deep spiritual understanding where he has the ideals of Sita or Savitri in mind.
There are times when all the three levels merge; making his views on women an enigma.

The views of Gandhi on the women’s question that irked the feminists especially are with
regard to the duties he assigned to women in social life. Gandhi could not appreciate the fact
of women working in factories to supplement the family income. He favoured their role as
home-makers, taking care of family and children.i He wanted them to be educated but was
against imparting English education to them. He believed that English education was of no
use to them because it had no application in their day to day life. iiIn all fairness to Gandhi, it
must be noted here that he considered English education as a waste of time for the common
people, the peasants and the artisans too, because it did not help them in their day to day life. He
had no problems with regard to co-education but believed that once the gender relations
are sorted out in the Indian family, co-education will follow as a natural consequence.iii On
purely spiritual and moral grounds he was against artificial means of birth control and
especially against the use of contraceptives or abortions, for the purpose. He preferred sexual
continence to artificial methods of birth control. On being told that this was not possible in the
situation in which women are placed in India he refused to believe that women are that powerless
as not to have a say in the matter. iv The same moral high ground was reflected in his advice to
women who were molested during communal riots. He asked them to either kill the culprit or
kill themselves.v

Psychologists have tried to unravel the source of Gandhi’s seemingly patriarchal views. Erik
Erikson has linked this to his marital experiences and the feelings of guilt about his natural
sensual needs.vi In the last phase of his life Gandhi conducted the highly controversial ‘body
experiments’ in order to purify his mind of sensual desires. Though at personal level he was
satisfied about his spiritual evolution such experiments were not appreciated by his colleagues
and friends and at the insistence of Thakkar Bapa, a revered old friend, he dropped them. The
deep influence of the Jain tradition which refers to the importance of the purity of the seeker of
truth in order to attract similar vibrations around him motivated Gandhi to conduct such
experiments. Gandhi had been deeply hurt by news of molestation of women during communal
riots and had concluded that perhaps the impurity of his mind, the leader’s mind, was responsible
for such happenings.
As a social reformer, Gandhi included the work for uplift of women in his Constructive
Programme. He repeatedly made it clear that women were in no way inferior to men and this
canard has been spread through ancient writings whose authors were men. vii In fact Gandhi went
a step further and said that in terms of capacity to suffer and belief in nonviolence women
were far superior to men.viii He advocated education to empower them.ix He asked them to be
economically self-sufficient in order to maintain their dignity. He advised them to participate
in social life and contribute to moral and spiritual growth of the community. He was against the
purdah system that cut off women from social life. x He was also against dowry system and
exhorted the youth not to ask for dowry in their marriages. Using very strong words he said,
‘Any young man who makes dowry a condition of marriage discredits his education and his
country and dishonours womanhood.’xiHe advocated remarriage for child widows but was not
very forthcoming on the marriage of widows who had enjoyed a long married life.xii

Gandhi believed in equal political rights of both men and women. He also wanted women to
be represented in proportion to their population in the legislatures and panchayats and had said
that he would not like to be a member of a legislature where women were not represented. xiii It
was no coincidence that Sarojini Naidu succeeded Gandhi as the President of the Congress Party
and the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Constitution of India had sizeable number of
woman who spoke on issues related to women.  

As an astute strategist, Gandhi soon realized the potential of woman in contributing to the
success of his movements. He tried this in South Africa where the government passed a
legislation that declared all Indian marriages solemnized outside courts as illegal. Gandhi
explained the implications of such a ruling to women and they spontaneously came out in large
numbers protesting against the evil law. In India, initially Gandhi confined the role of women to
picketing and similar non-aggressive activities during the Non-Cooperation Movement. Out of a
sense of dignity, he believed that the English would not like to use force against women and he
did not want to misuse this sensitivity for his personal gain. Later, however, during the Civil
Disobedience Movement he encouraged women to take over leadership roles. The role of
Sarojini Naidu in the Dharasana Salt Depot raid during the Salt Satyagraha was reported the
world over. Gandhi xiv made it a point to report the non-violent exploits of the women leaders in
the columns of his newspapers, eulogizing them in glowing terms. Women were at the forefront
even in dousing communal fires. Amtulassalam accompanied Gandhi in the worst communal
affected areas in Noakhali and went on fast for communal harmony.

To sum up one can say that Gandhi’s views on women’s question apparently appear very
complex but if one goes deep into the origins of such beliefs one finds that they are born out of
deep concern, respect and empathy for them. The most enlightened and forward looking women
of the period, both Indian and foreign, were Gandhi’s friends and confidantes. xv This would not
have been possible had Gandhi been a close-minded man with patriarchal mind-set.
i
MK Gandhi, Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule,p.33
ii
Harijan, 27-2-37, in RK Prabu’s compilation, India of My Dreams, p.232
iii
Harijan, 9-11-47 in ibid., p.233.
iv
‘ Interview of Margaret Sanger’, Harijan, 21-1-36,CWMG, LXII,pp.156-60
v
‘Woman’s Honour’, Harijan, 14-1-40, in RK Prabu’s compilation, India of My Dreams, p.230

vi
Erikson Erik H.: Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence, Faber and Faber Limited, London, 1970. p.97

vii
R.K. Prabhu, op.cit., p.227
viii
Talking to women workers late in April 1947, nine months before his assassination, Gandhi was confident that ‘India can proclaim that
she can defend herself and make progress not through the atom bomb but through non-violence alone’ and that ‘women alone can take the
lead in this, for God had endowed them with great power. If women resolve to bring glory to the nation, within a few months they can
totally change the face of the country because of the spiritual background of the Indian women.’ CWMG, Vol. 87, pp 250 & 294.
ix
R.K. Prabhu op. cit.,232-233
x
ibid.,p.227
xi
ibid.
xii
ibid. p226
xiii
Statement made at Round Table Conference in 1931
xiv

In a private conversation with the author, Mark Lindley, an American admirer of Gandhi pointed out a curious fact that
xv

Gandhi’s behavior with illiterate women was different from his behavior with the educated Indian women.
He saw the images of Sita and Savitri in the former while he treated the latter as very much his equal in all respects.

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Regeneration of Indian Women

Woman has been suppressed under custom and law for which man was responsible and in the
shaping of which she had no hand. In a plan of life based on non- violence, women have as much
right to shape her own destiny as man has to shape his. But as every rights in a non-violent society
proceed from the precious performance of a duty, it follows that rules of the social conduct must be
framed by mutual co- operation and consultation. They can never be imposed from outside. Men
have not realized this truth in its fullness in their behaviour towards women. They have considered
themselves to be lords women. They have considered themselves to be lords and masters of women
instead of considering them as their friends and co-workers. Women are in the position somewhat of
the slave of old who did not know that he could or ever had to be free. And when have been taught
to regard themselves they enable of men. It is up to Congressmen to see that they enable them to
realize their full status and play their part as equals of men.
This revolution is easy, if the mind up. Let congressmen begin with their own homes. Wives should
not be dolls and object of indulgence, but should be treated as honored comrades in common
service. To this end those who have not received a liberal education should receive such instruction
as is possible for their husbands. The same observation applies, with the necessary changes, to
mothers and daughters.
It is hardly necessary to point out that I have gives a one-sided picture of the helpless state of India’s
women. I am quite conscious of the fact that in the villages generally they hold their own with their
men folk and in some respects even rule them. But to the impartial outsider the legal and customary
status of women is bad enough throughout and demands radical alteration.
Constructive Programme, pp.17-18

Legislation has been mostly the handiwork of men; and man has not always been fair and
discriminating in performing that self-appointed task. The largest parts of our efforts, in promoting
the regeneration of women, should be directed towards removing those blemishes which are
represented in our Shastras as the necessary and ingrained characteristic of women. Who will
attempt this and how? In my humble opinion, in order to make the attempt we will have to produce
women, pure, firm and self-controlled as Sita, Damayanti and Draupadi. If we do produce them,
such modern sisters will have the same authority as the Shastras. We will feel ashamed of the stray
reflections on them in our Smritis, and will soon forget them. Such revaluations have occurred in
Hinduism in the past, and will still take place in the future, lending to the stability of our faith.
Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 424

Woman is the companion of man gifted with equal mental capacities.  She has the right to
participate in every minute detail in the activities of man and she has an equal right of freedom and
liberty with him. She is entitled to a supreme place in her own sphere of activity as man is in his.
This ought to be the natural condition of things and not as a result only of leaning to read and write.
By sheer force of a vicious custom, even the most ignorant and worthless men have been enjoying a
superiority and worthless men have been enjoying a superiority over women which they do not
deserve and ought not to have. Many of our movements stop half way because of the conditions of
our women. Much of our works done dose not yield appropriate results; our lot is like that of the
penny-wise and pound-foolish trader who does not employ enough capital in his business.
Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 425

Women's Education
I have pointed out form time to time that there is no justification for men to deprive women or to
deny them equal rights on the ground of their illiteracy; but education is essential for enabling
women to uphold these natural rights, to improve them and to spread them; again the true knowledge
of self and to spread them; again, the true knowledge of self is unattainable by the millions we are
without such education.
Man and women are of equal rank but they are not identical. They are a peerless pair being
supplementary to one another, each helpless the other, so that without the one the existence of the
other can not be conceived, and therefore it follows as a necessary corollary from these facts that
anything that will impair the status of either of them will involve the equal ruin of them both. In
framing any scheme of women’s education this cardinal truth must be constantly kept in mind. Man
is supreme in the outwards activities of a married pair and, therefore. It is in the fitness of things that
he should have life is entirely the sphere of women and, therefore, in domestic affairs, in the
upbringing and education of children, women ought to have mere knowledge. Not that knowledge
should be divided in to watertight compartments, to that some branches of knowledge should close
any one; but unless courses of instruction are based on a discriminating appreciation of these basic
principles, the fullest life of man and women cannot be developed.
I have come to the conclusion that in the ordinary course of our lives neither our men nor our
women need necessarily have any knowledge of English. True, English is necessary for making a
living and for active association in our political movements. I do not believe in women working for
a living or undertaking commercial enterprises. The few women who may require or desire to have
English education can very easily have their way by joining the schools for men. To introduce
English education in schools meant for women could only lead to prolongation of our helplessness. I
have often read and heard people saying that the rich treasures of English literature should be
opened alike to mean and women. I submit in all humility that there is some misapprehension in
assuming such an attitude. No one intends to close these treasures against women while keeping
them open for men.
There is non earth to prevent you from studying the literature of the world if you have literary tastes.
But when course of education have been framed with the needs of a particular society in view, you
cannot supply the requirement of the few who have cultivated a literary taste. In asking our men and
women to spend less time in the study of English than they are doing now, my object is not to
deprive them of the pleasure which they are likely to derive from it, but I hold that the same please
can be obtained at less cost and  trouble if we follow a more natural method. The world is full of
many a gem of priceless beauty, but then these gems are not all of English setting. Other languages
can well boast of production of similar excellence; all these should be made available for our
common people and that can only be done if our learned men will undertake to translate them for us
in our own language.
Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi. pp. 426-8

I believe in the proper education of women. But I do believe that women will not make her
contribution to the world by mimicking or running a race with man. She can run the race, but she
will not rise to the great heights she is capable of by mimicking man. She has to be complement of
man.
Harijan, 27-2-‘37

Co-education
I cannot definitely state as yet whether it will be successful or not. It does not seem to have
succeeded in the West. I tried it myself years ago when I even made boys and girls sleep in the same
verandah with no partition between them, Mrs. Gandhi and myself sharing the verandah with them. I
must say it brought undesirable results.
…Co-education is still in its experiment stage and we cannot definitely say one way or the other as
to its results. I think we should begin with the family first. There boy and girls should grow together
freely and naturally. The co-education will come of itself.
Amrita Bazar patrika, 12-1-‘35

If you keep co-education in your school, but not in your training- schools, the children will think
there is something wrong some where. I should allow my children to run the risk. We shall have to
rid ourselves one day of this sex mentality. We should not seek for examples from the West. Even in
training- School, if the teachers are intelligent, pure and filled with the spirit of Nai Talim, There is
no danger. Supposing if some accidents do take place, we should not be frightened by them. They
would take place anywhere. Although I speak boldly, I am not unaware of the attendant risk.
Harijan, 9-11-‘47