"To call woman the weaker sex is a libel,it is man's injustice to woman.If by strength is meant brute strength,then,indeed,is woman less brute than man,If by strength is meant moral power,then,woman is immeasurably superior to man.Without woman,man could not be.If non-violence is the law of our being,the future is with woman.Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?"
(Mahatma Gandhi,To the women of India published in Young India,1930)
In an address to a group of women students in Lahore,in 1934,Gandhi said"When I was in South Africa,I had realised that if I didn't work for the cause of women,all my work would remain unfinished."That said,Gandhi believed in the abilities of women during his struggle in South Africa.It is ironical that Gandhi was a typical,traditional,Hindu patriarch.He was born and brought up in traditional patriarchal Bania family,which naturally pre-disposed him towards patriarchy.However,certain events in South Africa made him reconsider his decision,and in time,abandon his prejudices towards women.
In Johanessburg,Gandhi and his wife shared their home with a English couple,Henry and Millie Polak.Though the English couple revered Gandhi as a leader,they had differences in their opinions with Gandhi.In one of their arguments,Millie Polak said that the women in the East are treated as subordinate to men.Gandhi then expressed that the East had given the woman a higher position than men.'The east had given her a position of worship'.Gandhi,then,substantiated his view by quoting a mythological instance of how Savitri wrestled with the God of death to rescue Satyavan.Millie polak then responded that the Satyavan-Savitri example vindicates her fact that the East has made woman a subject of man.Millie found Indian women 'always waiting on the pleasure of some man.'
Gandhi gradually reconsidered his patriarchal views through his interaction with Sonja Schlesin,an independent-minded woman.who worked as a secretary to Gandhi in his political works.She was always ready to speak up her mind and even differed with Gandhi in matters of treating woman as equal to man.Further,in his extended visits to England in 1906 and 1909,Gandhi saw how the women suffragetes fought bravely and preferred imprisonment,so that their sisters may get the right to vote.In the last phases of satyagraha in South Africa,Gandhi was quite impressed by the way the Tamil women came out in large numbers to court arrest for their rights.Here,even Gandhi's wife,Kasturba went to jail thus sacrificing herself to the cause of Satyagraha.
Overall,Gandhi transformed himself and realised the power of women through his interaction with women he came into contact with during his struggle in South Africa.His resolve to get men and women together was quite instrumental in furthering the struggle against colonialism in India in later years.
(Ideas borrowed from Ramachandra Guha's book on Gandhi)
(Mahatma Gandhi,To the women of India published in Young India,1930)
In an address to a group of women students in Lahore,in 1934,Gandhi said"When I was in South Africa,I had realised that if I didn't work for the cause of women,all my work would remain unfinished."That said,Gandhi believed in the abilities of women during his struggle in South Africa.It is ironical that Gandhi was a typical,traditional,Hindu patriarch.He was born and brought up in traditional patriarchal Bania family,which naturally pre-disposed him towards patriarchy.However,certain events in South Africa made him reconsider his decision,and in time,abandon his prejudices towards women.In Johanessburg,Gandhi and his wife shared their home with a English couple,Henry and Millie Polak.Though the English couple revered Gandhi as a leader,they had differences in their opinions with Gandhi.In one of their arguments,Millie Polak said that the women in the East are treated as subordinate to men.Gandhi then expressed that the East had given the woman a higher position than men.'The east had given her a position of worship'.Gandhi,then,substantiated his view by quoting a mythological instance of how Savitri wrestled with the God of death to rescue Satyavan.Millie polak then responded that the Satyavan-Savitri example vindicates her fact that the East has made woman a subject of man.Millie found Indian women 'always waiting on the pleasure of some man.'
Gandhi gradually reconsidered his patriarchal views through his interaction with Sonja Schlesin,an independent-minded woman.who worked as a secretary to Gandhi in his political works.She was always ready to speak up her mind and even differed with Gandhi in matters of treating woman as equal to man.Further,in his extended visits to England in 1906 and 1909,Gandhi saw how the women suffragetes fought bravely and preferred imprisonment,so that their sisters may get the right to vote.In the last phases of satyagraha in South Africa,Gandhi was quite impressed by the way the Tamil women came out in large numbers to court arrest for their rights.Here,even Gandhi's wife,Kasturba went to jail thus sacrificing herself to the cause of Satyagraha.
Overall,Gandhi transformed himself and realised the power of women through his interaction with women he came into contact with during his struggle in South Africa.His resolve to get men and women together was quite instrumental in furthering the struggle against colonialism in India in later years.
(Ideas borrowed from Ramachandra Guha's book on Gandhi)
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