Written by Stuti Kathuria, a grade 9 student and Brand Ambassador at
I Kid You Not (this piece got the second prize in the Independence Day Writing Contest)

The history of India’s scuffle towards freedom would be unfinished without telling the story of the countless women who made it possible. When the male freedom fighters were sent to prison and locked up, it was the women who took up the mantle and brawled with brave faces. They fought courageously with valour and never gave up, even when things seemed dark. They are the true heroines of this story.

The involvement of women in this climb started way back in 1817. Rani Channama of Kittur and Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh fought against the British East India Company during the 19^th century, about thirty years before the first war of independence in 1857. Rani Lakshmibai was the prodigious leader of the First war of 1857. She was the quintessence of loyalty, dignity and boldness.

Sarla Devi, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Aruna Asaf Ali are some the women who participated in the non-violent movement. Kasturba Gandhi, the wife of Mahatma Gandhi, and the women of the Nehru family, also participated in the National Movement. Sarojini Naidu was specially nominated by Gandhiji to initiate raid upon Dharasana Salt Works in May 1930. During the movement, Kamla Devi addressed meetings, prepared salt and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. The Quit India resolve, taken against the British, directly addressed women “as disciplined soldiers of Indian freedom”, required to withstand the blaze of combat.

Women bore perilous tasks in India’s combat for independence. They held municipal meetings, planned fencing of shops selling external liquor and articles, sold Khadi and actively participated in Nationwide Movements. They valiantly faced the truncheon of the police and even went to prison for it. Hundreds and thousands of Indian women devoted their livelihood for gaining freedom of their motherland and that is one of the elemental reasons we are able to express ourselves freely in this day and age.

 The women of India as well as of the globe are truly exceptional beings who can do anything and everything. Although the respect they are treated with is not what they deserve, they still overcome these challenges and rise above society’s expectations with flying colors. This shows us that without women. The world would probably be reduced to nothing but a wasteland and everyone else would cease to exist. The struggle towards India’s independence is just one of many events which has taken place to open our eyes and teach us all the light which women bring to the world.

Recently, the film “Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl” released on the Netflix. It showed how Gunjan Saxena, who was the first female pilot to join the India Air Force, fought her way to the top of the scoreboard and defied all odds. Her story is one which shall inspire generations to come. It also proves that a woman is a goddess, and she can conquer anything her heart desires. This discusses every woman who has fought for our country, for herself, for her family or anyone else worth fighting for.