This issues paper looks at how data from the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) confirm the message from the Beijing Platform for Action that social norms play a critical role in accelerating progress in gender equality. The paper looks at how discriminatory social norms affect women throughout their life course, with adverse impacts on their rights, well-being and empowerment opportunities, and explores the linkages between discriminatory social norms and the achievement of three of the Beijing critical areas: education and vocational training, women and the economy, and women and health. It emphasises in particular that integrating a social norms perspective into development operations can fast-track progress on the Beijing agenda, with implications for the implementation of the SDGs. To conclude, the paper proposes key policy recommendations for social transformation, equality and empowerment.