| To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's
injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less
brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's
superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not
greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her man could not be. If
non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more
effective appeal to the heart than woman? (Young India, 10.4.1930)
Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacities.
She has the right to participate in very minutest detail in the activities of man and she
has an equal right of freedom and liberty with him.
(Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi;
Natesan, Madras, 1933)
If only the women of the world would come together they could
display such heroic non-violence as to kick away the atom bomb like a mere ball. Women
have been so gifted by God. If an ancestral treasure lying buried in a corner of the house
unknown to the members of the family were suddenly discovered, what a celebration it would
occasion. Similarly, women's marvellous power is lying dormant. If the women of Asia wake
up, they will dazzle the world. My experiment in non-violence would be instantly
successful if I could secure women's help.
(Message to Chinese Women, 18.7.1947)
I would love to find that my future army contained a vast
preponderance of women over men. If the fight came, I should then approach it with much
greater confidence than if men predominated. I would dread the latter's violence. Women
would be my guarantee against such an outbreak.
(Harijan, 2.12.1939)
Ahimsa means infinite love, which again means infinite
capacity for suffering. Who but woman, the mother of man, shows this capacity in the
largest measure? She shows it as she carries the infant and feeds it during nine months
and derives joy in the suffering involved. What can beat the suffering caused by the pangs
of labour? But she forgets them in the joy of creation. Who again suffers daily so that
her babe may wax from day to day? Let her transfer that love to the whole of humanity, let
her forget that she ever was or can be the object of man's lust. And she will occupy her
proud position by the side of man as his mother, maker and silent leader. It is given to
her to teach the art of peace to the warring world thirsting for that nectar.
(Harijan, 24.2.1940)
My suggestion is that women can play a very important role in
establishing peace. Instead of being carried away by science they should follow the path
of non-violence because women by nature are endowed with the quality of forgiveness. Women
will never succeed in aping men in everything, nor can they develop the gift nature has
bestowed on them by doing so. They should neither allow their family members to have, nor
should they themselves have any connection with anything relating to war. God has endowed
women with hearts overflowing with love. They should utilise the gift properly. That power
is all the more effective because it is mute. I hold that God has sent women as messengers
of the gospel of non-violence.
(CWMG, Vol. LXXXVII)
But it is my firm conviction that if the men and women of India
cultivate in themselves the courage to face death bravely and non-violently, they can
laugh to scorn the power of armaments and realise the ideal of unadulterated independence
in terms of the masses which would serve as an example to the world. In that women can
take the lead for they are a personification of the power of self-suffering.
(Mahatma Gandhi, the last phase, Vol. II)
The women of India have during the past twelve months worked wonders
on behalf of the motherland. You have silently worked away as angels of mercy. You have
parted with your cash and your fine jewellery. You have wandered from house to house to
make collections. Some of you have even assisted in picketing. Some of you who were used
to fine dresses of variegated colours and had a number of changes during the day have now
adopted the white and spotless but heavy khadi sari reminding one of a woman's innate
purity. You have done all this for the sake of India, for the sake of Khilafat, for
the sake of the Punjab. There is no guide about your word or work. Yours is the purest
sacrifice untainted by anger or hate. Let me confess to you that your spontaneous and
loving response all over India has convinced me that God is with us. No other proof of our
struggle being one of self-purification is needed than that lakhs of India's women are
actively helping it.
(Young India, 11.8.1921)
Here as elsewhere the part played by women is indescribable. When
the history of this movement comes to be written, the sacrifices made by the women of
India will occupy the foremost place and just as with women so also with children. Their
wonderful awakening has fortified me in my faith that God is with us in this struggle.
These young folk had never been organised for such work, never been trained for it. How
they came to achieve all this I have not been able to divine nor has anyone else whom I
have consulted been able to enlighten [me] as to who guided them; only God could have done
so. But remember that, in the sacred battle, whatever sacrifices you have made are
trifling. Let them not puff you up with pride, what we want for India is purna swaraj
[complete independence]. And who can calculate what further sacrifices India will have
to make to achieve that goal? I assure you that I am doing as much as is humanly possible
to bring about peace so that the people may not have to go through further suffering and
sacrifices but everything is in God's hands and if it be not His will that any
understanding be arrived at, then I will have to tell the people that they must be ready
for much further suffering.
(The Hindustan Times, 22-2-1931)
CWMG. Vol. XLV, p. 209
(This capsule on Mahatma Gandhi has been compiled in
the National Gandhi Museum. Any further enquiry may be referred to Dr. Y. P. Anand,
Director, National Gandhi Museum, Rajghat, New Delhi - 110002. Ph / Fax: 3311793. E Mail:
gandhimk@nda.vsnl.net.in)
The above article is adopted from Government of India website http://www.meadev.gov.in |
