Civil Disobedience Movement

 First Round Table Conference

 Government resorted to severe repression. Mass arrests, torture, firing, lathi charges and police
excesses became common incidents. The Congress was outlawed and nearly ninety thousand
people were put behind the bar.
 On 5th May 1930, Gandhiji and other top leaders of Congress were imprisoned. Meanwhile, the
British Government summoned the First Round Table Conference at London on 12
November 1930 to discuss the Simon Commission Report. But when Congress boycotted it, the
conference was adjourned sine die.

 Gandhi-Irwin Pact

 Gandhiji and other important leaders of Congress were released from jails in the last week of
January 1931. The situation forced the British Government to negotiate with the Congress for a
rapprochement.
 As a result of a long negotiation, on 5th March 1931, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed. The
government agreed to remove all repressive ordinances, to restore the confiscated property, to
set free all prisoners except those who were guilty of having committed any violence.
 The government also allowed the manufacture of salt by the people and for peaceful picketing
before the liquor shops and foreign goods shops. Il return, the Congress agreed to suspend the
Civil Disobedience Movement and to attend the Second Round Table Conference. With this
pact, the government indirectly accepted the Congress as the representative organisation of the
Indians.

 How was the 'women's question' articulated in the national movement in India? Discuss with
reference to the participation of women in the different phases of the national movement.
 Write an essay on the role and contribution of women in national movement.
 Women: Participation in national movement and Impact.

Introduction

Women’s participation in India’s freedom struggle began as early as in 1817. While women were
involved in the political arena since the foundation of Indian national congress days (Annie Besant
started Home Rule League) and especially during the Swadeshi movement, but it was Gandhi who
initiated the mass participation of women in freedom struggle.

Before Gandhian phase:

1. Gauri Parvati Bai who was queen of Travancore carried out reforms and emphasized on the
need for education of girls thus in many ways helping women elevate from social and
educational stigma.
2. The role of Rani of Ramgarh, Rani Lakshmi Bai, Tapasvini Maharani in the War of Independence
(the Great Revolt) of 1857 was commendable.
3. During Swadeshi campaign their activities were limited to boycott of foreign clothand picketing
of liquor shops. A nationalistic cult around Bharat Mata (mother India) started to emerge which
further necessitated the role of women.
 4. In the second phase of women participation, the idea of Home Rule and constitutionalism
became dominant. Some western women played a significant role in this. Annie Besant, who
became the first woman president of Indian National Congress, launched Home Rule
movement.

NON COOPERATION MOVEMENT

The participation of women in the public domain started during the Non-Cooperation Movement (NCM) in 1920. This
time Gandhi had promised to provide a more active role to women than that provided by the swadeshi vow.
 Chatterjee in her essay titled – 1930: Turning Point In The Participation of Women in the Freedom Struggle:
She calls the year 1930 a turning point in the participation of women in the freedom struggle. According to her, before
1930 only a handful of women were involved and stood out but from 1930 onwards women became mass participants,
not just in big cities but also from small towns and villages. “This was a result of Mahatma Gandhi’s direct and active
encouragement to women to participate in the movement,” she notes.
Gandhi consciously involved women and attempted to link their struggle with the struggle for national independence.
The programs for women were devised in a way that they could remain domestic and still contribute. He gave women
a sense of mission within their domestic field.
Ironically, it was during this movement that Gandhi realized that the arrest of women could be used to shame men into
joining protests. Women expanded their public spaces – they began to picket, protest, and consequently, were arrested.
 Women Organisations:
With the 1920s, women became a vital force in the mass nationalist struggle, and its politics. Satyagraha became the
prominent site of women’s nationalist participation even though women were initially excluded from salt satyagraha.
One of the first women’s organizations –

 the “Rashtriya Stree Sangh(National Women’s Community)”

 the “Devasevikas(divine servants), the women-only cadre
 Mahila Rashtriya Sangh –
came into existence in Bombay during the course of this movement.
Educated and politically assertive women begin to join the newly launched political organizations like

 Arya Mahila Samaj, Pune,

 Stri Zarthosti Mandal, Mumbai
 Anjuman-E-Khwatin-E-Islam, Punjab, or
 the women’s auxiliaries of Indian National Congress or National Social conference.

 Women from all backgrounds joined the movement:

The so-called “morally indecent” women were also influenced by Gandhi’s call and collected funds for the Congress.
Thus, we see that women gradually engaged with Nationalist politics despite the constraints of social practices,
backwardness, and a low level of female literacy.
They engaged in constructive activities like spinning and conducted secret activities.
 Participation through Parallel Processes:
They participated through two parallel processes:
a) The domestication of the public sphere – women participated in the streets without compromising on their domestic
values, and
b) The politicization of the domestic sphere – women handled situations in their families when nationalism entered
households through the activities of their husbands and sons.
  Ideal Nationalist Woman
The symbolic imagination of the Indian nation as ‘ mother’ or ‘Hindu goddess’, as ‘Bharat Mata’ inspired people
affectively to surrender their lives for ‘her’, significantly not only as the patriotic duty but also as religious one.
The nationalist woman activist became both a symbol and a bulwark of women’s emancipatio. She countered the
colonial claims about Indian women being home-bound, ignorant and weak, claiming power from the great Indian
culture.
The nationalist movement gave legitimacy to women’s presence in public political sphere, and claimed to have
resolved the woman question
Civil Disobedience Movement
Women’s public activities were more pronounced during the Civil Disobedience Movement. Though Gandhi
visualized a supportive role for women, they started getting impatient and demanded a more active role.
Gandhi appreciated the impatience as a “healthy sign”.

 Kasturba Gandhi initiated women’s participation in the salt “satyagraha(non-violent resistance)” by leading 37
women volunteers from the Sabarmati Ashram.
 Sarojini Naidu and Manilal Gandhi led the raid on Dharsana Salt Works. Kamla Devi led a procession of
15,000 to raid the Wadala Saltworks.
 Women thus participated actively in processions, picketing of foreign shops, and liquor shops. Latika Ghosh,
the founder of “Mahila Rashtriya Sangh(Women’s National Community)” in Bengal
 In Bengal, some women like Bina Das and Kamala Das Gupta participated in the violent revolutionary
movement and unlike Swadeshi Movement where they played a domestic supportive role, now they stood
shoulder to shoulder with men and participated in the assassinations of magistrates and governors.
The Quit India Movement (1942):
The female activism in the Quit India Movement was visible most significantly.
The important leaders of congress being behind bars, made it contingent for the women leaders to take upon
themselves the responsibility of directing and taking forward the national movement.
The Quit India resolution, 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, called The "Voice of Freedom" to disseminate the
"mantra" of freedom-war. News of protest and arrests, deeds of young nationalists, and Gandhi’s famous "Do
or Die" message for the Quit India movement were circulated amongst the masses. Usha Mehta and her
brother persisted with their task of broadcasting until their arrest.

Nari Bahinis or Dalams

Along with a vast majority of women from the peasantry propelled by a promise of free and egalitarian relations on
land as well as in family, there were a few middle class urban educated women encouraged by the vision of economic
and social justice joining the movements for awareness generation among village women or famine relief work or
such. They formed women’s fighting troops, nari bahinis or dalams, became martyrs and even confronted sexual
torture with tenacity, solidarity and determination.
Women and Anti- Caste Movements
Women inspired by Ambedkar started rejecting practices embodying caste markers such as carrying gas lamps on
their heads in processions, wearing caste-based costumes and other markers. They avoided being part of erotic music
and dance performance in lavani-tamasha. Defying such abhorrent traditions, women sought to cast themselves in new
attires of the self with dignity and self respect.
Formation of Dalit Mahila Federation:
From 1930s, separate political meetings and conferences of women came to be organized leading to the formation of
Dalit Mahila Federation. They demanded social, economic and political rights, passed resolutions for abolishing
brahmanical practices specifically those 63 Women’s Political Participation in Early enslaving women and
condemned atrocities against dalit women.
Women and Writings during Nationalist Movement
Through their writings, for instance in widely circulated journals, they reasserted their self and autonomy and its
interweaving with the campaigns for overturning colonialism, class and caste hierarchies while simultaneously
confronting the corrosive hostility towards them. Thus, diverse voices of women can be mapped in the political arena.
Women’s writing in this period brought out dramatic tensions and struggles of women caught between public
promises of freedom, equality and responsible citizenship held out to them and personal lives that were bound anew
into private spheres
Differences in participation of women according to region
The nature of women’s participation varied from region to region.
In Bombay, women were best organized, most independent, and fielded the largest demonstrations.
In Bengal, women attracted attention due to their militancy and the few peaceful demonstrations in a society where
“purdah” was widely practiced.
They marched alongside men in the Congress parade and later joined the revolutionary groups.
In Madras, where leaders were reluctant, women’s participation remained limited.
In north India, Nehru and Zutschi families provided strong women leaders.
Conclusion
While women’s participation legitimized the national movement, it also legitimized their claim to a place in the
governance of the nation. There were psychological gains too. The movement influenced the way women viewed
themselves and their mission in life.
However, there were some drawbacks too. Those who participated claimed to represent all Indian women when most
of them belonged to upper or middle-class Hindu families. Among the Muslim women, only a few participated, others
either felt alienated due to excessive Hindu symbolism or were neglected by the Congress organizers.