The empowerment of women is very much needed for the development of a country. Thus various provisions are made under the act and its guidelines which ensure that women have equitable and easy access to work, decent working conditions, equal payment of wages and representation on decision making process. However, the women of Kerala are socio-economically empowered when compared to women in other states due to their involvement in Self Help Groups. In this context, the paper analyse the contribution of MGNREGA in empowering women socially and economically and the constraints faced by them.