Role of Women in the Freedom Struggle During the Gandhian Phase

India’s freedom struggle was never a single-track affair. It drew energy from every corner of society, and women were a vital force within it. Their role, however, did not appear overnight. It evolved through distinct stages, each shaped by the intellectual climate and political demands of the time. By the time Gandhi took centre stage in national politics, women had moved from being passive symbols of national identity to active participants walking shoulder to shoulder with men on the streets.

The Earliest Image: Women as ‘Mother India’

In the initial phase of nationalist thinking, Indian intellectuals needed powerful symbols to awaken patriotic feeling. They turned to the figure of the woman, but not as a political actor. Instead, they cast Indian women as ‘Mother’ and linked this image to ‘Bharat Mata’ (Mother India). This idea gained its most famous expression in Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Anandamath, which gave the nation the hymn Vande Mataram. The woman here was not a participant in the struggle but a sacred symbol around which men rallied.

Reform Movements and the Domestic Ideal

The 19th century social reform movements shifted the image slightly, but still kept women within the home. Reformers projected the vision of the ideal mother, the ideal wife, and the ideal sister. The emphasis was on improving women’s conditions within the domestic sphere: ending practices like Sati, promoting education, and raising the moral standing of the household. Women were valued, certainly, but their role remained defined by their relationships to men rather than by independent political action.

The First Step into Mass Politics: Swadeshi Movement, 1905

The real turning point came with the Swadeshi Movement of 1905. For the first time, women stepped out of the domestic sphere and into the arena of mass politics. They participated in boycotts, took vows to use only Indian-made goods, and organised public gatherings. This was a modest beginning, but it set a pattern. With each major movement that followed, women’s participation deepened and broadened.

Gandhi’s Vision: From Motherhood to Sisterhood

When Gandhi emerged as the leader of the national movement, he brought a fundamentally different understanding of women’s place in the struggle. He gave women a special and central role in both the Non-Cooperation Movement (NCM) and the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).

Gandhi recognised the strength women carried, even while accepting the biological and social limitations that society placed on them. His genius lay in turning what others saw as constraints into sources of moral power. He believed that women’s capacity for suffering, endurance, and self-sacrifice made them natural practitioners of satyagraha (non-violent resistance).

To inspire confidence in women, Gandhi held up the mythological examples of Sita and Damayanti, both figures of extraordinary inner strength and moral resilience. The message was clear: courage and power did not require physical force. Through this approach, the image of women in the movement shifted decisively from motherhood to sisterhood. Women were no longer just symbols to fight for; they were comrades to fight alongside.

Key Women Leaders in the Gandhian Movements

Several remarkable women rose to prominence through their work within the Gandhian framework:

Anusuya Ben — She accompanied Gandhi on his tours across the country and was an active participant in the 1918 Ahmedabad Textile Mill Strike, one of Gandhi’s earliest labour interventions after returning to India. Her involvement in this workers’ struggle demonstrated that women could engage with economic and industrial issues, not just political protests.
Sarojini Naidu — One of the most prominent women leaders of the entire freedom struggle. After Gandhi was arrested during the Civil Disobedience Movement, Sarojini Naidu took charge and led the march on the Dharasana Salt Works, accompanied by Gandhi’s son Manilal. The non-violent marchers walked straight into the police batons, and the brutal suppression of this peaceful raid was reported worldwide, turning global opinion sharply against British rule.
Mridula Sarabhai — A committed Gandhian, she worked with the Vanara Sena (Monkey Army), a youth organisation set up by Indira Gandhi to draw children and young people into the national movement. Sarabhai’s work showed that women played an important role in building the grassroots infrastructure that kept the movement alive at the local level.
Annie Besant — Though not Indian by birth, Besant was deeply embedded in the freedom movement. She helped Gandhi mobilise support for the Rowlatt Satyagraha by channelling the organisational networks of the Home Rule Leagues, which she had been instrumental in building. Her ready-made infrastructure across the country gave the Rowlatt protest a powerful launchpad.

Beyond Gandhian Non-Violence: Women in Other Streams

The freedom struggle was not confined to the Gandhian path alone. Women showed equal courage and commitment in revolutionary movements, the Quit India agitation, and even on the battlefield.

Revolutionary Extremists

Some women rejected non-violence altogether and chose the path of armed resistance:

Kalpana Dutta — She was a participant in the Chittagong Armoury Raid (1930), an audacious armed assault on British armouries in eastern Bengal. Her involvement shattered the notion that revolutionary action was an exclusively male domain.
Bina Das — In 1932, she shot at the Governor of Bengal at point-blank range during a convocation ceremony. Though the shots missed, the act sent a shock wave through the colonial establishment and became a symbol of fearless defiance.
Durga Bhabhi (Durga Devi Vohra) — She was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), the revolutionary organisation of Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad. She helped Bhagat Singh escape from Lahore in disguise after the Saunders shooting, playing a critical support role in one of the most famous episodes of the revolutionary movement.

Women During the Quit India Movement (1942)

When the British arrested virtually all senior Congress leaders after the Quit India resolution, it was often women who kept the resistance alive:

Usha Mehta — She operated Congress Radio, a clandestine radio station that broadcast news, speeches, and messages of resistance during the communication blackout the British imposed after the arrests. The secret station became a lifeline for the underground movement.
Sucheta Kriplani — She was active in the underground movement, helping to coordinate resistance activities when the movement had been driven below the surface by mass arrests and repression.

The Indian National Army’s Rani Jhansi Regiment

Perhaps the most striking symbol of women’s transformation from passive participants to active combatants was the Rani Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army (INA). Led by Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan (later known as Lakshmi Sehgal), this was an all-women military unit, the first of its kind in modern Indian history. Named after the legendary Rani of Jhansi, the regiment represented the ultimate evolution: women had moved from being symbols of the motherland to bearing arms in its defence.

The Larger Significance

The story of women in India’s freedom struggle is one of continuous expansion. They began as symbols, moved into social reform, stepped into mass politics with the Swadeshi Movement, became central to Gandhian non-violent resistance, and eventually took up arms in both revolutionary organisations and the INA. No single role defined them. Whether leading salt marches, running secret radio stations, shooting at colonial governors, or commanding military regiments, women fought for independence through every available channel. Their participation was not a footnote to the freedom struggle; it was one of its driving forces.