Defying the barriers of age, gender and religion, the Indian women became the torchbearer during the…

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Defying the barriers of age, gender and religion, the Indian women became the torchbearer during the struggle for freedom in India. Discuss.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Indian women of every age, faith and region broke purdah and social walls to lead, picket, broadcast and fight for freedom. Matangini Hazra, shot at 73 at Tamluk in 1942, and 17-year-old Kanaklata Barua at Gohpur show how the barrier of age fell.

**Introduction**

Historian Geraldine Forbes noted that the freedom movement drew women out of the home on a scale no social reform had achieved. Women of every age and faith broke the walls of purdah and creed to carry the national flame.

**Women Defying Barriers of Age, Gender and Religion**

1. **Age no bar**: Matangini Hazra, 73, was shot leading a 1942 procession at Tamluk, and Kanaklata Barua, 17, fell at Gohpur hoisting the tricolour.
2. **Purdah broken**: The Salt Satyagraha brought thousands of women out to make salt and picket liquor and foreign-cloth shops, and Sarojini Naidu led the Dharasana raid in 1930.
3. **Faith and region no bar**: Bi Amma toured the country for the Khilafat cause, the Parsi Bhikaiji Cama unfurled a flag at Stuttgart in 1907, and Rani Gaidinliu carried the struggle into the Naga hills.

**Women as Torchbearers of the Movement**

SKETCH: timeline | Women across the phases
- 1857 :: Revolt queens
- 1905 :: Swadeshi boycott
- 1917 :: Home Rule
- 1930 :: Salt Satyagraha
- 1942 :: Quit India underground
- 1943 :: INA regiment

1. **Leading the Congress**: Annie Besant (1917) and Sarojini Naidu (1925) presided over the Congress.
2. **Keeping Quit India alive**: Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the flag at Gowalia Tank in August 1942, and Usha Mehta ran the secret Congress Radio.
3. **The armed path**: Pritilata Waddedar led the 1932 Pahartali raid, and Lakshmi Swaminathan commanded the INA's Rani of Jhansi Regiment.
4. **Limits**: Most leaders were urban and upper-caste, and women's own demands were deferred until after freedom.

**Conclusion**

Women paid their full share of the price of freedom. Their courage won equal citizenship in the Karachi Resolution of 1931 and universal adult franchise in 1950, an agenda of equality still being completed.

Defying the barriers of age, gender and religion, the Indian women became the torchbearer during the struggle for freedom in India. Discuss.

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