Women participated on a large scale for the first time in the national movement in the:

Women participated in the national movement on a large scale for the first time during the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-1934).

NCERT on women in the Civil Disobedience Movement:

• NCERT notes that another important feature of the Civil Disobedience Movement was the large-scale participation of women.
• During Gandhiji's salt march, thousands of women came out of their homes to listen to him.
• They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops.
• Many went to jail.
• In urban areas, these women were from high-caste families; in rural areas, they came from rich peasant households.
• Moved by Gandhiji's call, they began to see service to the nation as a sacred duty of women.

However, NCERT also notes that this increased public role did not necessarily mean any radical change in the way the position of women was visualised; Gandhiji was convinced that it was the duty of women to look after home and hearth, be good mothers and good wives.

For a long time, the Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the organisation.

Activities of women in the movement:

• They made salt in defiance of the law.
• They picketed shops selling foreign cloth and liquor.
• They spun khadi and promoted Swadeshi.
• They took part in processions and public meetings.
• They faced police lathi charges and arrests.

Famous women leaders of the time:

Sarojini Naidu, Kasturba Gandhi, Kamala Nehru, Durgabai Deshmukh, Rani Gaidinliu, Avantikabai Gokhale and others played important roles.

Earlier participation:

Women had taken part in the Swadeshi Movement and the Non-Cooperation Movement, but in smaller numbers.

Later:

Women played an even bigger role in the Quit India Movement (1942), when many of them, such as Usha Mehta (who ran an underground radio station) and Sucheta Kripalani, carried on the movement underground.

Why not the other options?

• ✗The Swadeshi Movement, the Rowlatt Satyagraha and the Khilafat Movement saw smaller participation of women.