Why did Gandhiji want for indian women
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Mahatma Gandhi had expressed his views and had written on numerous issues that concerned the Indian Society in particular and humanity in general. This article examines the importance and relevance of his views on issues that directly or indirectly impacts the status of women in India. The following issues are being considered:
Unlike many other noble souls who wrote and worked with the principle of sexual equality in mind, Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, sought to bring about a revolutionary change in the status of women in the first half of the 20th century. The views expressed by the Mahatma and the actions undertaken by him may not go entirely with the current times because the times have irreversibly changed but the honesty of the Mahatma, the love and respect he had for women can never be doubted.
The Mahatma on Women
The Mahatma said that women have been suppressed under custom and law for which man was responsible and in the shaping of which she had no hand. Rules of social conduct must be framed by mutual co-operation and consultation. Women have been taught to regard themselves as slaves of men. Women must realize their full status and play their part as equals of men.
Marriage
Marriage is a sacrament. It is a natural thing in life (Harijan, 22nd March, 1942). Thinking of the state of affairs in our country, very few Indians need marry at the present time. The purpose of marriage is to get progeny but all progeny that is born now is the issue of passion, mean and faithless. Gandhi advised young men not to marry till 25 or 30. He preferred arranged marriages but the young man needs to be consulted by the parents if he is more than 25 (A Handbook of Sarvodaya, Part-2, p55, compiled by Subhash Mehta).
Marriage has become a contract between consenting individuals. It is an artificial fact of life. However, considering the fact that the population of India grew from 23 crores in 1891 to only 25 crores in 1921 and that from 25 crores in 1921 to 36 crores in 1951, a phenomenal increase in the latter period, the Mahatma was duly alarmed by the rapid increase in population and therefore was right in saying that “very few Indians need marry at the present time”. His views on the age at marriage for young men are however relevant to this day. His view that marriages should be arranged by parents and that a young man of more than 25 should be consulted by the parents reflects upon the fact that the Mahatma had a traditional view of life and that he wanted reforms within the tradition.
The Dowry System
The dowry system is a product of the caste system. The abolition of caste will lead to the abolition of dowry (Harijan, 23rd May, 1936). Demanding dowry is akin to discrediting womanhood. Young men who demand dowry should be excommunicated. Parents of girls should cease to be dazzled by English degrees and should not hesitate to travel outside their little castes and provinces to secure true, gallant young men for their daughters (Young India, 21st June, 1928).
The Mahatma was a very complex personality. He expected the women to play a complementary role in the society and wanted women to scale the highest peaks of life in the female domain, not realizing the fact that the complementary status of women was a product of the caste system. However, when it came to the dowry system, he wanted the abolition of the caste system. He came down on the dowry system very strongly and wanted the dowry demanding husband to be ex-communicated. He advocated inter-caste marriages and expected gallantry or chivalry from men. He wanted women to wait till the ideal suitor comes. The Mahatma had a very sublime and soft view of women and did everything to protect the pleasing side of the traditions.
Widow Remarriage
Widowhood imposed by religion or custom is an unbearable yoke and defiles the home by secret vice and degrades religion. In order to save Hinduism, enforced widowhood must be ridden. Child widows must be duly and well married and not remarried. They were never really married (Young India, 5th August, 1926).
One cannot have a better view on Widow Remarriage than what the Mahatma has presented. He was clearly against Child Marriages and wanted child widows to be well married because they were not really married. He was the man who led the country by example. In 1918, when Hiralal’s wife died of influenza, he was fifty and wanted to remarry. Gandhi did not allow his son to remarry. He later on relented but wanted Hiralal to marry only a widow. Hiralal was emotionally bankrupt after his wife’s death and took to alcohol and women, only to be found dead in the Sewree hospital in midtown Bombay (Mahatma Gandhi, His Life and by Times, p261 by Louis Fischer and Mahatama versus Gandhi.
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Plz mark as a brainlest.
Unlike many other noble souls who wrote and worked with the principle of sexual equality in mind, Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, sought to bring about a revolutionary change in the status of women in the first half of the 20th century. The views expressed by the Mahatma and the actions undertaken by him may not go entirely with the current times because the times have irreversibly changed but the honesty of the Mahatma, the love and respect he had for women can never be doubted.
The Mahatma on Women
The Mahatma said that women have been suppressed under custom and law for which man was responsible and in the shaping of which she had no hand. Rules of social conduct must be framed by mutual co-operation and consultation. Women have been taught to regard themselves as slaves of men. Women must realize their full status and play their part as equals of men.
Marriage
Marriage is a sacrament. It is a natural thing in life (Harijan, 22nd March, 1942). Thinking of the state of affairs in our country, very few Indians need marry at the present time. The purpose of marriage is to get progeny but all progeny that is born now is the issue of passion, mean and faithless. Gandhi advised young men not to marry till 25 or 30. He preferred arranged marriages but the young man needs to be consulted by the parents if he is more than 25 (A Handbook of Sarvodaya, Part-2, p55, compiled by Subhash Mehta).
Marriage has become a contract between consenting individuals. It is an artificial fact of life. However, considering the fact that the population of India grew from 23 crores in 1891 to only 25 crores in 1921 and that from 25 crores in 1921 to 36 crores in 1951, a phenomenal increase in the latter period, the Mahatma was duly alarmed by the rapid increase in population and therefore was right in saying that “very few Indians need marry at the present time”. His views on the age at marriage for young men are however relevant to this day. His view that marriages should be arranged by parents and that a young man of more than 25 should be consulted by the parents reflects upon the fact that the Mahatma had a traditional view of life and that he wanted reforms within the tradition.
The Dowry System
The dowry system is a product of the caste system. The abolition of caste will lead to the abolition of dowry (Harijan, 23rd May, 1936). Demanding dowry is akin to discrediting womanhood. Young men who demand dowry should be excommunicated. Parents of girls should cease to be dazzled by English degrees and should not hesitate to travel outside their little castes and provinces to secure true, gallant young men for their daughters (Young India, 21st June, 1928).
The Mahatma was a very complex personality. He expected the women to play a complementary role in the society and wanted women to scale the highest peaks of life in the female domain, not realizing the fact that the complementary status of women was a product of the caste system. However, when it came to the dowry system, he wanted the abolition of the caste system. He came down on the dowry system very strongly and wanted the dowry demanding husband to be ex-communicated. He advocated inter-caste marriages and expected gallantry or chivalry from men. He wanted women to wait till the ideal suitor comes. The Mahatma had a very sublime and soft view of women and did everything to protect the pleasing side of the traditions.
Widow Remarriage
Widowhood imposed by religion or custom is an unbearable yoke and defiles the home by secret vice and degrades religion. In order to save Hinduism, enforced widowhood must be ridden. Child widows must be duly and well married and not remarried. They were never really married (Young India, 5th August, 1926).
One cannot have a better view on Widow Remarriage than what the Mahatma has presented. He was clearly against Child Marriages and wanted child widows to be well married because they were not really married. He was the man who led the country by example. In 1918, when Hiralal’s wife died of influenza, he was fifty and wanted to remarry. Gandhi did not allow his son to remarry. He later on relented but wanted Hiralal to marry only a widow. Hiralal was emotionally bankrupt after his wife’s death and took to alcohol and women, only to be found dead in the Sewree hospital in midtown Bombay (Mahatma Gandhi, His Life and by Times, p261 by Louis Fischer and Mahatama versus Gandhi.
hope it helps .
Plz mark as a brainlest.
satapathyaradhana46:
Plz mark as a brainlest.
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