How did large-scale participation of women in the Civil Disobedience Movement become an important feature?

(i) During Gandhi’s salt march, thousands of women came out from their homes to listen to him.

(ii) They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops.

(iii) Many went to jail in urban areas.

(iv) They considered service to the nation as a sacred duty of women.

Yet, increased public role did not necessarily mean any radical change in the way the position of women was visualised. And for a long time, the Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the organisation. It was keen only on their symbolic presence.