WOMEN'S ROLE IN INDIAN

FREEDOM STRUGGLE
INTRODUCTION
STATUS OF WOMEN

IN ACIENT &

COLONIAL ERA
IMPROVEMENT

AFTER CULTURAL

REFORMS
Several women's organisations were also formed in the due

course of the freedom struggle like the, sarla devi

chaudhurani setup the Bharat Stree Mahamandal . Women

indian association by margaret cousin and annie besant .In

Bengal, a number of women's organisationshie Bangiya Nari

Samaj, Bengali Women's Education League and Al Bengal

Women's Union started raising all kinds of issues related.

women, including the demand for legal steps against

traficking.
1st
WAR OF

INDEPEDENCE
The 22-year-old queen refused to cede Jhansi to the British.
Shortly after the beginning of the mutiny in 1857, which
broke out in Meerut, Lakshmi Bai was proclaimed the regent
of Jhansi, and she ruled on behalf of the minor heir. Joining
the uprising against the British, she rapidly organized her
troops and assumed charge of the rebels in the Bundelkhand
region. Mutineers in the neighbouring areas headed toward
Jhansi to offer her support.
WOMEN

PARTICIPATION IN

POPULAR

MOVEMENTS:
1. JALLIANWALA BAGH
The Rowlatt Act was passed by the British government to increase their grip on
power over the common folk. This law was passed in March 1919 by the Imperial
Legislative Council which gave them the power to arrest any person without
any trial. To abolish this act, Gandhi and the other leaders called for a Hartal
(suspension of work) to show Indians’ objection to this rule, called the Rowlatt
Satyagraha.

Women from different backgrounds participated in this Satyagraha. The women

along with their children were protesting peacefully in jallianwala bagh when
the indiscriminate firing ordered by Colonel Reginald Dyer resulted in the
deaths of not only men but also women and children.
There are the accounts of two women who expressed their opposition to the
British adminitration in India by refusong to provide any aid to the slain
victim's relatives.

This is the tale of Attar Kaur and Rattan Devi, wives who lost spouses in the
violence at the Bagh and who, by refusing to submit to the colonial authorities,
preserved the honour of not only the sacrifice of their husbands but also of all
those who perished in the carnage.
2. NON- COOPERATION
MOVEMENT
The call for a non-cooperation movement by Gandhi in 1920-21 saw women come
out to participate in the movement

The women were no longer expected to live within the confines of their
house. They came out, many of them got rid of purda, worked beside men
without much embarrassment

Women took to streets picketing liquor shops, and holding dharnas.

For instance, Lady Amman, the mother of the Ali brothers, addressed
several meetings in the course of the Khilafat Non Cooperation Movement
by removing her veil. She was vehemently against the possibility of women
staying kept to their homes and not partner themselves with the political
exercises
Sarla Devi, Muthulaxmi Reddy, Susheela Nair, Rajkumari

Amrit Kaur, Sucheta Kripalani and Aruna Asaf Ali are some

the women who participated in the non-violent

movement.

Kasturba Gandhi, the wife of Mahatma Gandhi, and the

women of the Nehru family, Kamla Nehru, Vijaya Lakshmi

Pandit and Swarup Rani, also participated in the National

Movement. L
3. KHILAFAT MOVEMNT
1. Women played powerful role in the Khilafat Movement. Morally and
financially, they support the movement. They gave their ornaments in
Charity.

2.Many women even renounced Purdah and came out to participate in the

movements

3.Lady Amman - Mother of Ali Brothers; addressed several meetings in course

of the movement by removing her veil.She opposed to the idea of of women

remaining confined to their homes and not associated with Political Activities.

4. In Calcutta, Basanti Devi jumped into the freedom struggle in 1921 after the

arrest of her husband Chittaranjan Das. She participated in movements like

Khilafat and Civil Disobedience movement.

4. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
MOVEMENT

The Civil Disobedience movement was the first was the

first nation wide movement, where women for the first

time in huge numbers participate in the public arena the

fight for Swaraj. During the Salt March, thousands of

women came out of their homes to listen to the speeches

of Gandhi. They participated in protest marches,

manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor

shops.A notable feature of theDandi March and second

disobedience movement was participation from women.

They came out in large numbers like never before and

changed the course of modern Indian history.

5. QUIT INDIA
MOVEMENT

"Quit India " , 'bharat chodo ' . This simple but powerful slogan

launched by the legendary struggle response to Gandhi's call for

immediate independence which also become famous by the name of

the ' August revolution '. The quit India revolution taken against

British directly addressed women "as disciplined soldiers of Indian

freedom", required to sustain the flame of war.

Usha Mehta a committed patriot set up a radio transmitter call the

"voice of freedom war". New of protest and arrest ,deeds of young

nationalist and Gandhi's famous "Do or die " message for the quit India

movement were circulated amongst the masses

Women who participated in the quit India movement
1. A.V. Kuttimali Amma
2. Ambujammal
3. Padmaja Naidu
4. Rukmini Lakshmipathi
5. Maya Thomas
6.Kanaklata Barua
WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN
INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY
The most spectacular of all the movement was the role of

women participants in Indian national army led by Subhas

Chandra Bose. Here the women not only helped in raising

fund for the organisation but they were also organised under

the Rani Jhansi regiment founded in 1943 by Subhas Chandra

Bose. He formed this women regiment because he had

immense faith in the capacity of the Indian women. A large

number of women joined this regiment and went through

rigorous training and participated in actual fight.



WOMEN ORGANISATION
However with the joint efforts of the revolutionaries around the

country, in abolishing and fighting against social evils like the Sati

pratha, female infanticides, and also promotion of womens

education of which some great pioneers are Annie Besant of

Theosophical Society and Arya

Samaj's Dayanand Saraswati, widow remarriage etc, the status of

women in India started improving and alongside this the

participation of women in the freedom struggle or Indian national

movement also skyrocketed.

Thank you