Gandhi's View on Status of Women: Purdah and Devdasi

Abstract

Gandhi visualized a fundamental role for women as instruments of social change because they constituted the primary influence on the future citizens of the country and half the nation’s strength in terms of population. His perception of women as instruments of social change was influenced by two ‘sexist’ assumptions, which nevertheless did not have a negative impact on his thinking. These were the conservative and non-violent temperaments he assumed women to possess.