Women’s liberation had been a significant achievement of the erstwhile USSR. During the entire period of Soviet rule, on account of the modernization project, a woman enjoyed a prime position in every field of life. Policy documents such as fairness and empowerment were even enshrined in the legislation of the republics. Although it did not eliminate the deeply engrained male-dominated character of the society, it went long and deep to unsettle the conservative and orthodox traits of the society. However, with the collapse of the USSR, the safety net evaporated which put the women at risk and exposed them to new kinds of challenges. The graph of her socio-economic progress came down. It is at this important juncture the role of civil society groups and NGOs have increased tremendously and started to work in areas like filling the gender gap, supporting the state in addressing the issues of women and so forth. It is in this connection, that the present paper will try to shed light on the role of NGOs and other civil society groups in the women’s empowerment arena. The study also seeks to understand why and how NGOs made an entry into the country and how far they have accomplished the goal of women’s empowerment and what triggered an unprecedented growth of NGOs working in the field of women’s rights in the country.

Keywords: Civil society organizations, NGOs, State, Women Empowerment, Women Rights, liberal democracy, and political rights.