I think nursing came to be a profession dominated by women because of many reasons. First during wars, men went off to fight. Who was left to care for the wounded soldiers where were male? Females. Second reason, I think it’s because women naturally seem to have more patience in the job of nursing. Most are mothers themselves and seem to best understand how things work.
At times he was put in jail/prison and I have read that at other times he was simply ignored. There were several violent movements going on in the Country of India at the time so Gandhi's peaceful movement really didn't draw a lot of attention from the British.