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How women's participation in workfoce helps in their empowerment.

In the United States, at least, women's participipation in the workforce has empowered them both economically and (in a related effect) in terms of psychology and prestige.

Because they work, working women are in a much better position to be equal partners in their marriages or even to choose whether they wish to marry.  Women without their own sources of income were more dependent on their husbands and therefore in less of a position to demand equality.

Psychologically/in terms of prestige, women in the workforce have changed the overall view of women (both by men and women) in mainstream American thought.  It is no longer common for men to demean women as incompetent (jokes about women drivers, etc are just an example).

These are the two main ways that I can think of that women have been empowered by working outside the home.

By participating in the workforce, women have become empowered de facto.  Since they are present in the business world, they have an environment in which they can become economic, social, and political forces. With an income of their own, they possess the power to purchase goods, thus making them a group to whom advertisers, etc. must appeal in order to show profits, etc.  For politicians, women have become a source of support financially and for winning votes. Thus, politicians will cater to female choices in order to win elections.  With affirmative action and other hiring laws, women have certainly been empowered.  In fact, a recent study reported by NBC shows more women in the work force in the current recession than men.  Because women can procure professional jobs more easily than some men, married men in some cases (having small children) have chosen to stay home while their wives are the "breadwinners" since the wives can earn a higher salary than they.

There is the opposite effect as well, though.  More traditional women who choose to stay at home criticize those who choose to work outside the home sometimes struggling to balance work and home life.  For this reason, some women who work outside of the home have a sense of guilt that they are not providing the nurturing or clean home or security perhaps that their children and husband might have been accustomed to before taking outside work. 

In addition, women traditionally do not get paid the same rate for equal work done as their male counterparts.