Does the promotion of women’s rights by governments in conservative societies affect individuals’ attitudes and behavior with respect to gender equality? I investigate this question in the case of Morocco, a developing country that has made significant legal and policy advances for women’s rights over the past 15 years. I argue that government action advancing women’s rights in societies where conservative attitudes prevail can contribute to shifts in perceived norms around gender equality even if personal attitudes change slowly or not at all, but that the gap between norms and attitudes can generate backlash against women. Existing evidence measures personal attitudes on an array of gender issues but does not investigate how these might align or contrast with perceived social norms and behavior. I first use an original survey of 1,000 Moroccans to measure status quo and directional norms, contrasted with personal attitudes, across a range of gender equality issues, and I test how both perceived norms and attitudes vary in response to exposure to government promotion of gender equality. Second, I present evidence from an original lab experiment conducted in Morocco testing whether exposure to government promotion of gender equality prompts less generous and more punitive behavior by men toward women. Together, the findings from these studies contribute to our understanding how gendered norms, attitudes, and behavior evolve amid rapid social and legal change for women’s rights.