After obtaining her doctorate degree in sociology from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, from 1994 to 1999, Kalpana Kannabiran served as the Director of Research and Legal Outreach at the Asmita Resource Centre for Women in
Secunderabad where she provided
pro-bono legal counselling to women victims of
domestic violence and women in difficult situations. Even after leaving her full-time position in 1999, Kannabiran continued to be actively involved with Asmita, designing the organisation's legal aid, strategic litigation, training and capacity building programmes. In July 1999, she joined the NALSAR University of Law at Hyderabad as a founding faculty member. As a professor of sociology, Kannabiran taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in sociology,
labour law and
criminal law; and was a part of the team that introduced and taught the Masters Programme (LLM) in Human Rights. From March 2011 until March 2021, Kannabiran served as a Professor and Regional Director at the Council for Social Development, Southern Regional Centre ('CSD'). In 2012, she founded the PhD programme in social sciences and women's studies in collaboration with the
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad and Mumbai. In the year 2007–08, she was invited as a member of the Expert Group on the
Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) constituted by the Ministry of Minority Affairs of the Government of India in order to prepare a structure for the working of proposed EOC in India. In 2007 and 2014, when India had to submit its national compliance reports to
United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and, Kannabiran as a part of the
National Alliance of Women, edited the two consecutive NGO Alternative Reports – in 2007 and 2014 submitted to the Committee at this time. The recommendations made in these two reports were crucial in informing the stance taken by the Committee in its Concluding Comments. Kalpana Kannabiran submitted recommendations to the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on the Persons with Disabilities Bill before the PSC session chaired by Member of Parliament
Ramesh Bais during its review conducted on 3 December 2014. She also presented her analysis of the law on
sexual assaults before the Justice Verma Committee, whose recommendations ultimately led to the enactment of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. In 2004, she made recommendations to the PSC led by Member of Parliament Arjun Singh on the enactment of the Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act. Kalpana is a life member of Indian Association for Women's Studies and has been elected to the position of Joint Secretary (1996–1998) and General Secretary (1998–2000). She has been active in the
International Sociological Association, and was the Chair of Research Committee 32: Women in Society (2002–2006) and a member of the executive committee from 2014 to 2018. == Works ==