Discuss the role of women in the freedom struggle especially during the Gandhian phase.
Approach · directive: “discuss”
What it asks · Describe how women took part in the national movement, with emphasis on 1919–47 under Gandhi, the forms of their participation, and its limits.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- Discuss the role of women in the freedom struggle and the forms their participation took
- Discuss with emphasis on the Gandhian phase (1919-47): why women joined, who led, and the limits of their participation
Open with · Gandhi's call to non-violent mass action brought women out of the home into public life on a scale never seen before.
Cover
- Gandhian appeal: satyagraha, spinning and picketing were open to women, and Gandhi presented them as equals in moral strength and self-suffering.
- Non-Cooperation: women boycotted foreign cloth, spread khadi and raised funds; Basanti Devi and Kasturba Gandhi were among the early leaders.
- Civil Disobedience (1930): women made salt, picketed liquor and cloth shops and courted arrest; Sarojini Naidu led the Dharasana protest.
- Quit India (1942): Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Congress flag in Bombay, Usha Mehta ran a secret radio, and Matangini Hazra was shot at Tamluk.
- Leadership and organisation: Sarojini Naidu presided over the Congress in 1925, and the All India Women's Conference (1927) linked reform with freedom.
- Limits: participation drew mostly on urban and middle-class women, and questions of caste, community and personal law stayed secondary.
Close with · Women's participation widened the movement's base and later shaped equal citizenship in the Constitution, though it was uneven across class and region.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2016, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 282 words (UPSC limit 200) · Minimalist IAS
Women had entered the movement before Gandhi, through Swadeshi, revolutionary circles and Annie Besant's Home Rule League, but it was satyagraha that made them a mass presence.
Why the Gandhian phase opened the door
- Gandhi presented non-violent suffering as a moral strength women possessed in abundance and chose activities open to them: spinning, khadi, picketing and prabhat pheris.
- Mass movements needed numbers, and middle-class families let women march once the leader himself vouched for its respectability.
Forms of participation
- Non-Cooperation (1920-22): Basanti Devi and Urmila Devi courted arrest in Calcutta for selling khadi; Kasturba Gandhi and Sarala Devi Chaudhurani toured for the movement.
- Civil Disobedience (1930-34): women made salt, picketed liquor and foreign-cloth shops and filled the jails; Sarojini Naidu led the Dharasana raid and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was arrested in Bombay.
- Quit India (1942): Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the flag at Gowalia Tank, Usha Mehta ran the underground Congress Radio, Sucheta Kripalani organised the underground, and Matangini Hazra was shot at Tamluk.
- Leadership: Naidu presided over the Congress in 1925; the All India Women's Conference (1927) tied social reform to freedom; Rajkumari Amrit Kaur served as Gandhi's secretary.
- Beyond Gandhi: Pritilata Waddedar and Kalpana Datta in Chittagong, Rani Gaidinliu in the Naga hills and Lakshmi Sahgal's Rani of Jhansi Regiment in the INA.
Limits
- Participation drew mainly on urban, upper-caste and middle-class families, and many leaders were relatives of male leaders.
- Women were praised as mothers and Sitas rather than as political equals, and personal-law reform was deferred, though the Karachi resolution (1931) promised equality irrespective of sex.
Women gave the movement its mass character and its moral edge and secured equal citizenship in the Constitution, even if social equality lagged behind.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.