Indian women have had little representation in institutional politics since independence. There was more concern in the last two decades towards increasing women’s participation in political institutions thereby leading to empowerment. Affirmative action has been accepted as a means to political empowerment. Panchayat being the nearest form of government to the people can play instrumental role in their empowerment by ensuring effective participation of them. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment ushered in a major change in the history of Panchayats making provision for the reservation of women. Leadership is necessary not just to govern but to change the nature of governance. This paper has made an attempt to analysis the concept of empowerment and the role of Panchayats in participation as well as empowerment of women and also suggest some effective measures to achieve that goal. The study is based on secondary data collected from different sources like study reports, government reports, books, journals and web based materials.