Women empowerment is a process of awareness and capacity building leading to greater participation, to greater decision making, power and control, and to transformative action. The participation of women in Self Help Groups (SHGs) has made a significant impact on their empowerment. The present paper addresses women empowerment through self help groups in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh. The study was attempted to examine whether women’s involvement in various activities of the group makes any positive change on women’s social empowerment. The information required for the study was collected using a well structured and pre-tested interview schedule targeting Self Help Group members along with focus group discussion method which facilitated the collection of qualitative data from the groups. From the assessment of various criteria of social empowerment, the study indicated a noteworthy improvement in the status of self help group members. The impact of membership in the group is commendable in courage, self-confidence, skill development, increased participation in decision making, control over family finance and significant shift in the level of communication all converging to improved social status

Keyword: Self Help Group, Empowerment, Self confidence, Decision making