In his writings, Mahatma
Gandhi expressed very clearly and thoughtfully his own personal view on women.
When bearing in mind the bad treatments that woman had to suffer, he considered
this a shameful condition that affected women all over the world and not only
Indian ones. He believed that “all of us men must hang our heads in shame, so
long as there is a single woman whom we dedicate to our lust. I will far rather
see the race of man extinct than that we should become less than beasts by
making the noblest of God’s creation the object of our lust”.[1]
Gandhi held that women should go back to a simple life and that they would
enjoy a decent freedom. He thoroughly rejected the custom of child-marriage,
deplored the condition of the poor child-widows and assumed that women would
gain the faculty to vote and to exercise equal rights.[2]
The Mahatma also believed that the remedy to stop the bad treatments against
women was more in their hands than in men’s hands: they had to avoid adorning
themselves for men’s pleasure, even if it was for her husband, choosing as a
model for dressing the sober and chaste Sita.[3]
Gandhi
refused the idea that women were naturally dependent on others borrowing
examples from the Hindu epic tradition: “Who says that woman is dependent on
others? […] Sita was Rama’s better half and enjoyed empire over his heart. […]
Who will say, after reading the Mahabharata,
that Draupadi was dependent on others? Who will call Draupadi dependent,
Draupadi who, when the Pandavas failed to protect her, saved herself by an
appeal to Lord Krishna? […] A woman who has the strength to preserve her
purity, to defend her virtue – to call such a woman dependent is to murder
language and violate dharma [the principle or law that orders the universe]”.[4]
In
Gandhi’s view, the character of Goddess Sita was an example for all Indian
women. In fact, Sita was the true incarnation of virtue, humility, simplicity
and bravery. Indeed, according to the Mahatma the beauty of a virtuous woman
did not consist in the fineness of her dress but in the possession of a pure
heart and vigorous life. Addressing himself to Indian women, Gandhi affirmed:
“I would like you to imitate Sita’s virtues, Sita’s humility, Sita’s simplicity
and Sita’s bravery. You should realize that Sita for the protection of her
virtues did not need the assistance of Rama, her Lord and master. […] It was
the purity of Sita which was her sole shield and protection”.[5] In
addition, he continues: “You must become pure in mind and body like Sita, for
then alone you will become the mothers of heroes. […] You must emancipate
yourselves and your daughters from the thralldom of the various social abuses
and tyrannies that are prevalent in your midst at present”.[6] According
to Gandhi, women had to play within their households the role of queens.
Women
will eventually put an end to the ill-treatment towards them when they will
stop thinking that they are weak. Men started ill-treating women because the
latter had yielded to lust, being enslaved by passion and sexual desire. The
fact that women are physically weaker than men translated into the fact that
they were helpless before man and that they always needed man’s protection. For
Gandhi, it is true that men and women differ as far as the body is concerned,
but in terms of soul men and women are equal.[7]
The
Mahatma Gandhi upheld an authoritatively strong position against the practice
of sati. He reckoned that the ritual of self-immolation of the widow at the
death of her husband was not a sign of enlightenment but of gross ignorance to
the nature of the soul, which is immortal, unchangeable and immanent. Self-immolation
is a vain practice and must not be considered an example to emulate. For
Gandhi, the real condition of widowhood was to be lived only through constant
striving and constant immolation of the spirit from day to day.[8]
Gandhi
believed that Sita was a permanent example of unbeaten purity and should have
been the continuous point of reference for all Indian women: “It is my belief
that any woman who has the purity of Sita cannot be touched by anyone”.[9]
Mahatma
Gandhi once said that women in general characterized the best half of
humankind.
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