Empowerment, gender and development are three interconnected concepts in the area of human development. Empowerment is not only dynamitic, and complicated; but also varied in dimension and forms from different perspectives. Development, based on capability approach developed by Amartya Sen, is an extension of human freedoms rather than merely economic development in terms of physical quantities. Empowerment plays an important role both as end and as a means of sustainable development paradigm through participation of women in social and economic processes and by changing the power relations. This paper explores theories of and the interrelations among the three distinct schools of thought on gender and development, namely, Women in Development (WID), Women and Development (WAD) and Gender and Development (GAD). It also examines policy approaches to Women in Development, and Gender and Development in addition to the WID to GAD Policy approaches during 1970-90. These three approaches for development of women are found to exist in India. It can be concluded that sustainable development with equality and equity needs empowerment, equality in gender, and participatory approaches to reduce all types of inequalities.