Generally women are the real victims of poverty and unemployment. Hence any development programme focusing on women assumes greater significance. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme introduced by the Government of India in 2005, provides at least 100 days of demand driven guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural households and appears to be the largest employment guarantee scheme in the world. In its World Development Report 2014, the World Bank termed it a “stellar example of rural development”. Through the scheme provides such an opportunity to women, but it is doubtful whether the social status and welfare of women have been improved much. Hence a study is proposed to examine the real situation of women who enjoyed the benefit under MGNREGA scheme in Peravoor Grama Panchayath of Kannur district of Kerala state. The study is designed as an empirical one based on the survey method and the primary data collected from the respondents on convenient sampling basis. The study shows that economic empowerment index is 2.24 and social empowerment index is 2.09. The scheme provides an opportunity for women to attain social and economic empowerment.
