The participation of women in public domain started during Non-Cooperation Movement, 1920 when Gandhi mobilized a large number of women. Women took to streets picketing liquor shops, and holding dharnas.⁣
⁣
Sarojini Naidu was one of the forerunners of women’s participation in the movement. In 1919, Sarojini Naidu became a campaigner for women’s satyagraha, traveling all over India to propagate the cause. She appealed, in particular, to women to agitate against the Rowlett Act.⁣
⁣
In 1920, she joined the non-cooperation movement. In 1921, during the riots in Bombay following the protest against the visit of the Prince of Wales to the city, Sarojini Naidu visited the riot-torn areas, with the aim of persuading people for Hindu-Muslim unity. ⁣
⁣
Basanti Debi (Mrs C.R.Das), Urmila Debi, and Suniti Debi, were well-known women organisers during the Non-Cooperation Movement.⁣
⁣
Congress pronounced April 6-13, 1921 as Satyagraha week, and women inspired by governmental issues held gatherings to demonstrate their help. ⁣
⁣
Addressing one gathering in August, Urmila Devi, the widowed sister of the Bengali Congress pioneer C. R. Das, encouraged women to be prepared to leave their homes to serve the nation. By November, 1,000 Mumbai women were exhibiting against the Prince of Wales’ visit to India.⁣
⁣
Women took out processions propagated the use of Khadi and even courted jail. Though the number of women arrested was very small, yet a beginning was made and an example set that, if need be, women would not hesitate to face the most difficult situations.⁣
⁣
Women were part of not just the Gandhian movement but were also revolutionaries in their own right. One such woman Sarala Debi Ghoshal writes, “She was not a participant but a patron of revolutionary groups, and is said to have got her friends and acquaintances to take a pledge on the map of India that they would be prepared to sacrifice their lives for the country’s independence. She patronised akharas (physical culture clubs) where young men were taught judo, karate, swordplay, and wrestling.”⁣
⁣