Women also joined. Their participation mattered to Ghaffar Khan. In August 1928, before the formation of the Ḳhudāī Ḳhidmatgār, 2,000 women had already participated in a public meeting. Flouting local customs, Ghaffar Khan sent his daughter to study at Allahabad University, the “Oxford of India.” In one account, she was the first woman from the Frontier to receive a university education. Ghaffar Khan also did not favor the prevalent practice of veiling (pardāh). Women in his own household broke away from many traditional customs; his sister actively participated in the movement.
