As our journey through Gandhi’s Land continued, I could not help but consider Gandhi’s teachings and values in everything I heard and observed during the time spent in Gujarat. We visited number of Gandhian Ashrams and discussed his life and his values with everyone we met. What happened to Gandhi’s Gujarat? This is the question I still ask a month after returning home. As my research concentrated on women and their status in today’s Gujarat, I observed a complete dichotomy to Gandhian views on women and their status within the society. Today, in the state where Mahatma Gandhi’s principle of non-violence originated, the picture is entirely different and women face various issues under the rule of BJP.

Today, cases of rape and assaults against women are rampant in Gujarat. While the recent rape incident in Delhi received so much attention, ongoing rape incidents throughout Gujarat receive no to very little attention and most importantly, gang rapes committed in 2002 against Muslim women were left unnoticed. While Gujarat is considered one of India’s fast growing states, many believe that such development has brought more violence against women. Prior to the incident in Delhi, five individuals were arrested in Viramgam, a city in Ahmedabad district, in connection with a gang rape of three tribal women and a minor girl. A two and half year old girl died after being raped by her uncle in the city of Vadodara (formerly known as Baroda) less than a week after the gang rape in Delhi. These are not exceptional occurrences; there are countless incidents of rapes in Gujarat both prior and post gang rape incident in Delhi. I wonder – have the rape incidents gone up in Gujarat or the reporting have gone up after the Delhi incident? Also, why is the state refusing to demand strict and severe punishment to the accused for such heinous crimes in Gujarat?

According to Gandhi, the patriarchal nature of the society limits the status of women by granting them a subordinate standing in contrast to their male counterparts. His teachings of non-violence and tolerance highlighted women’s rights to equal participation in all aspects of live. He believed, “The wife is not the husband’s slave but his companion and his help-mate and an equal partner in all his joys and sorrows – as free as the husband to choose her own path.”  This quote illustrates Gandhi’s belief that women have equal abilities and equal rights as that of men to freedom and development. However, his views on women are greatly contested due to his religious chastity and unfair treatment of his wife Kasturba.

Gandhi advocated for women’s essential role in the political, economic and social processes of the country. This perspective was reiterated by a female student in the Gandhian University in Ahmedabad. She highlighted Gandhian views on women by stating that education plays a significant role mainly because it ensures women’s moral development and therefore challenges the notion of women as the weaker sex. She believed that by urging women to project their voice as an instrument for transformation of attitudes and behaviors towards them is of paramount importance. Despite her strong belief in Gandhian teachings, she expressed that when it comes to women the reality is far from equality and freedom. While Gandhi believed all women regardless their race, socio-economic or religious affiliation must be given equal rights and play a crucial role in a non-violent movement, the reality on the ground is complex. In Modi’s Gujarat, deep-rooted structural and social barriers hamper development of women and their rights while overemphasizing economic growth through privatization and foreign investment.

Today, an anti-rape law is not sufficient; a bigger social change is required. “Woman must cease to consider herself the object of man’s lust. The remedy is more in her hands than man’s. She must refuse to adorn herself for men including her husband, if she will be an equal partner with man”. Gandhi believed that the only factor that would enable women to come out of this situation was the determination and strength of the women themselves. Though men should help in the cause of women, ultimately women will have to determine their destinies. I question, is it in the hands of women themselves as Gandhi envisioned? Can women fully determine their own destinies when they cannot fully exercise their rights and talents without backlash and judgment?