A short history and milestones including some of the public programmes and events conducted by us :
1981: The work began informally as a collective.
1982: A poster exhibition ‘Mee Ek Manjushri’ to raise awareness on domestic violence.
1983: ‘Speak Out Centre’ began its work.
1986: On the backdrop of dowry related deaths in the society, a meeting was held with the owners of Wedding Halls (Mangal Karyalaya) attempting to sensitise them about the dowry problem.
1987: To highlight the issue of safety of women at night, a ‘Torch March’ was organised.
1987: Nari Samata Manch was formally registered as a Trust and a Society.
1993-2005: Manch ran a ‘Short Stay Home’ for women in distress.
1998: Work in Tribal areas of Pune district was initiated.
1999: A seminar was held in Pune on ‘Women and Print Media’.
2000: A conference on ‘Self Esteem’ of women was organised.
2001: We began work with the Katkari community, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribe (PVT) in Maharashtra.
2001: A seminar was conducted on the issue of ‘Bride burning’.
2002: A short campaign was conducted for peace titled ‘Aman Ke Raste’.
2003: A conference was organised on the issue of ‘Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace’ to give visibility to the issue.
2003: For Government of Maharashtra policy research was conducted titled ‘Gender Study in Rural Water Supply and Sanitation’
2003-2005: Manch fought a successful legal fight to get Caste Certificates to Katkari people in Pune district.
2007-08: Work with Katkari Khelghars was initiated in Mulshi block of Pune district.
2008: ‘Purush Samvaad Kendra’ established in memory of Prof. Satyaranjan Sathe, one of the founder members of Manch, began its work, essentially to counsel, establish dialogue with men.
2011: A work to engage men in reducing violence against women was undertaken in Bhor block.
2012: A study was done on the health of Katkari Women in Mulshi block.
2015: Purushbhan Conference was held in Pune to sensitize men towards gender equality.
2016: A similar conference on Purushbhan was conducted in Bhor block to take the question towards smaller towns.
2018: A research report on Female Genital Mutilation/cutting in India, titled ‘The Clitoral Hood, A Contested Site’ was published.
2019: A public programme was organised on Women’s Reservation and Politics.
2019-2022: Research project completed on domestic violence with IIT Bombay, Queen Mary University, London and University of Oxford titled ‘Surviving Violence – Everyday Resilience and Gender Justice in Rural and Urban India’ and report published.
2020: An online survey was conducted on the backdrop of total lockdown due to Covid-19 in India. Findings were compiled in a report titled ‘Family Relationships in an Unprecedented Situation of Complete Lockdown’.
2020: An online programme on the backdrop of rape and murder of a young Dalit woman in Hathras.
2021: An online meeting on Shakti bill and Revisiting Recommendations by Justice Verma Commission.
2021: An online workshop co-organised with Milun Saryajani on Media Communication.
2023: Planning of and participation in Maharashtra level conference of women and trans people.
2023: A public programme was organised on the completion of 10 years of Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act 2013.