- Women in society: Gandhi visualized a fundamental role for women as instruments of social change because they constituted the primary influence on the future citizens of the country and half the nation’s strength in terms of population.
- His intellectual guide was the image of the ideal wife of Hindu literature, whom he describes as ardhangana, the better half, and sadadharmini, the helpmate.
- According to him, women were slow to give up their traditions and customs because they were conservative, but for the same reason, they could discriminate better between the good and the bad in their heritage and cherish the good.
- Gandhi believed women were superior to men in their moral and spiritual strength. They had greater powers of self-sacrifice and suffering. On this account, women were capable of infinite strength, which they only needed to realize and channel.
- Women had a key role to play in the family, in Gandhi’s opinion. The family was the crucible of society where future citizens, leaders and lawgivers were nurtured. Hence, it was here that the mother could mould the values and traits of her children in a direction that could lead to social progress. The aim was to teach children to be self-reliant and not keep them dependent on the family’s resources.
- He was against gender bias in the training of children. He asserted that girls ought not to be taught to adorn themselves as that identified them as objects of desire without any other distinct human qualities.
- The latter had to be highlighted if they wished to be accepted as equal partners of men. He was also of the opinion that housework must be divided equally between boys and girls as the home belonged to both. Also, both boys and girls ought to have vocational training in some occupation to assure them a future livelihood when the need arose.
- Women in politics: Gandhi envisaged an important political role for women vis-a-vis the power structure in society and the foundations of an equitable and non-violent social order. They must realize, he said, that as a class, women had been suppressed for centuries and it was now time for them to rise in rebellion and prove their worth.
- Role in mass movement: From the very beginning, Gandhi made strong appeals to women to join the national struggle in large numbers. The response was overwhelming. In non-cooperation campaign of 1920-22, women’s contribution to the satyagraha fund in terms of personal jewelry was phenomenal; they also played a notable part in the propagation of khadi in defiance of government orders, and in picketing liquor shops as part of the temperance campaign. In his plan for promoting communal harmony, eradicating untouchability and popularizing his revolutionary scheme of Basic Education, Gandhi held that women could play a central role as they had creative powers and a tremendous capacity for self-sacrifice.
