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.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Discuss the role of women in the freedom struggle and the forms their participation took
- Discuss with emphasis on the Gandhian phase: why women joined, who led, and the limits and gains of their participation
Open with · The Salt March of 1930 was the first nationalist activity in which women took part in large numbers; Gandhi's methods turned a few pioneers into a mass presence.
Cover
- Groundwork: Women's India Association (1917) and National Council for Women in India (1925) built a public platform.
- Why Gandhi drew women: satyagraha, spinning and picketing were open to them; non-violent suffering cast as moral strength.
- Non-Cooperation: boycott of foreign cloth, khadi, picketing of liquor shops; Basanti Devi and Kasturba Gandhi among early leaders.
- Civil Disobedience: Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay widened the salt protests to women; Sarojini Naidu led the Dharasana protest.
- Quit India: Aruna Asaf Ali, Usha Mehta, Matangini Hazra, Kanaklata Barua and Rama Devi.
- Limits and gains: mostly urban middle-class women; yet the Karachi resolution (1931) and Article 15 secured equality in law.
Close with · The equality promised at Karachi reached Parliament only with the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, which provides one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2016, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 16 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 301words · Minimalist IAS
The Salt March of 1930 was the first nationalist campaign that drew women in large numbers. Gandhi's methods turned the few pioneers of earlier decades into a mass force.
Before the Gandhian phase
- Organised voice: the Women's India Association (1917) and the National Council for Women in India (1925) gave women a public platform for reform and rights.
Women in the Gandhian phase
- Why they came: satyagraha, spinning and picketing suited women; Gandhi presented non-violent suffering as a moral strength they held in abundance.
- Non-Cooperation (1920-22): women boycotted foreign cloth and spread khadi, joining a movement that Gandhi turned into a mass campaign of non-violent refusal.
- Civil Disobedience (1930): socialist Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay persuaded Gandhi not to confine the salt protest to men and courted arrest herself; women also picketed liquor shops; Sarojini Naidu led the Dharasana protest.
- Quit India (1942): Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the national flag in Mumbai, Usha Mehta organised an underground radio station, and Matangini Hazra (Bengal), Kanaklata Barua (Assam) and Rama Devi (Odisha) led local resistance.
- Leadership: Sarojini Naidu presided over the Congress in 1925, and the All India Women's Conference linked social reform with freedom.
- Beyond Gandhi: in Manipur Rani Gaidinliu urged people not to pay taxes; Pritilata Waddedar chose the revolutionary path.
Women's satyagraha: Picketing cloth and liquor shops; Salt-making and arrest; Khadi and spinning; Underground radio (1942); Congress leadership
Limits and gains
- Narrow base: participation drew mostly on urban, middle-class women; caste, community and personal-law questions stayed secondary.
- Rights in law: the Karachi session (1931) committed the Congress to women's equality, a pledge carried into Article 15, which bars discrimination on grounds of sex.
The equality first promised at Karachi reached Parliament only with the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, which reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 16 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
