FEMINIST GANDHI :AN INSPIRATION.

The idea that man and women are equal and that women can't be denied rights socially politically or economically just because they are women is an idea of feminism.

India as a nation has always been hard on its women. For many years and even today, women are not considered equal to men when it comes to rights and freedom of choice.

No matter what laws a nation makes, no matter what judgement a court passes to protect its women, a nation can never be fully feminist unless the mindset of its citizens change. 

Suppression and harassment of women, denying them rights, controlling their choice and telling them that they are meant to get married, bear children and look after the family has become such an intrinsic part of our lives that it almost appears normal and remains unchallenged by men as well as women.

We need inspiration for modern day women. There are n number of feminists to look upon in india as well as in the west but i prefer to choose gandhi ji as our guide in the drive for feminism. 

Gandhi was a feminist, even without knowing or acknowledgement, he was one.There can be no better ideal for Indian women than our own father of the nation who believed that women were not jus equal but stronger than men. 

GANDHIAN IDEA OF FEMINISM - 

Gandhi was  a feminist in action. His idea of sarvodaya included both men and women. His feminism was connected to self reliance, economic development, swadeshi and independence. 

>He was against child marriage and supported widow remarriage. 

>He supported child marriage restraint act of 1929.He refused to approve his eldest son s marriage before the age of 18.

>He opposed isolation and I'll treatment of widows, especially child widows. 

He said, "we cry for cow protection in the name of religion but we refuse protection to the girl widows." 

>He was against sati, dowry, caste system etc. 

He once addressed all women and girls - As for you young girls, to you i will only say - that if I had a girl under my charge I would rather keep her a maiden all her life than give her away to one who expected even a single coin for dowry. "

>He was against women/female infanticide and foeticide. He said the world needed both men and women and birth of both should be rejoiced. 

>He was against domestic violence under the umbrella of non violence. 

 

IMPORTANCE OF FEMINISM IN INDIA -

1~ Even after 75 years of independence, India gripples With female foeticide and infanticide. India has one of the highest female foeticide and least female child population.

2~As per a report by unicef _state of world population 2020 - India accounts for 45.8 million of worlds 142.6 m lost girl child.

3~Gender based sex selection accounts for nearly  2/3rd of missing girl child.

4~India has an alarming rate of 20 women dying everyday as a result of harassment over dowry, NCRB in 2017 recorded 7000 dowry deaths.

5~NCRB report says 80 murders, 77 rape cases take place daily in 2020 and conviction rate is below 30%.

6~UNICEF India report says at least 1.5 million girls below the age of 18 get married in India making it home to the largest number of child brides.

7~NCRB report of 2019 says that 30.9% of all 40.5 lac cases under crimes against women are registered under section 498 of IPC which deals with cruelty by husbands or relatives. 

These are few of the many reasons why Indian women need to be strengthened more than their counterparts in other parts of the world.

Its saddening to see a country like India where girl and women are worshipped in various forms at a point and later preyed upon by men and elderly .It's the same country where women like maitri and gargi have lived and spread their knowledge, the same country where women are worshipped during navratri in the form of goddess lakshmi, saraswati and durga, the same country where girl child is worshipped. It's a shame that women of our country have to fight for their rights which they should have been conferred upon naturally. 

Its important for the county that women realise their potential to the fullest, feel protected and not suppressed and aren't afraid of going out in the dark, no matter what they wear and wit whom they go.

 We need to rid women of male dominance, promote equality of sexes, respect women, end the stereotypes that make women subjugation seem totally Normal and break the taboos of the past centuries, let women be free, let them speak, let them talk and fly. 

To achieve these goals we need to look back at the 20th century gandhian feminism who saw no difference in men and women.

HOW GANDHI INSPIRES OUR WOMEN -

AS back as the 19th and 20th c, gandhi ji saw a powerful force in women. 

He said - "The day women can walk freely on the roads at night, that day we can say India has achieved freedom.

To call women a weaker sex is a libel, it is man's injustice to women. If by strength is meant moral powers, then women are immeasurably man's superior. "

When Mahatma Gandhi began his struggle against injustice in south africa, the idea of women going to jail was unthinkable for male, upper caste Indian nationalist but gandhi s passive  resistance in South Africa made women going to jail a common phenomenon.He acted as a catalyst for women entry in political movements, women of all races, caste, religion were involved which he believed was must for political struggle. 

He was influenced by feminist Millie Polak who was one of the earliest Western female associates of Gandhi.

She once said"India has many things to be proud of but of none more than the part of Indian women of South Africa who took part in south African struggle. "

Gandhi ji himself said he learnt the art of passive resistance, as a weapon of power, from Indian women more than anyone else.

He was influenced by his virtuous mother putli bai and his wife kasturba gandhi who taught him the value of truth, honesty, fasting and satyagraha. 

After  coming to India he exhorted Indian women to participate in the freedom struggle, the satyagraha, swadeshi and dandi march.

He was unwilling to allow women to take part in dandi march as it was a long journey but he was easily persuaded by leaders such as Sarojini Naidu, Annie besant, Matangini hazare, Kamladevi Chatterjee and others.

17000 of 30000 people who were arrested during the dandi march were women. 

Even Subhash Chandra Bose said-"Gandhi and his civil disobedience movement brought about, in a dramatic manner, the entry of women of India in large numbers into public life. This is the starting point of women's emancipation in our land."

Unfortunately, It has been 75 years since India gained independence but real freedom is still a far away dream. Women are stil under the authoritarianism of men, they are still chained to the shackles of patriarchy.

The fight for freedom is still Going on and gandhian dream of an equal India still seems a far fetched idea.

Constitutionally and legally we may have achieved independence, we may have progressed, modernised ourselves from a colonial rule but mentally, we are still in the dark ages, most men are still under the colonial hangover of controlling women and puppeting them. First, women had to fight against a foreign rule and now against their own countrymen. This is a selective freedom, impartial, unjustified and incomplete .

 Just as Indian fought against the Britishers, indian women too need to put up a brave and relentless fight against all odds and achive what they truly deserve, that is complete emancipation from any form of subjugation.

Women! 

Remember gandhi in the fight for freedom and then India will truly emerge as a rightful global and regional power in years to come, without women by its side, it will relegate into backwardness. And no body wants that. 

Thank You, 

Saumya Pandey.