Why is agrarian development and social change so uneven on the ground? Why do some villages appear to thrive while others struggle with static economies, persistent poverty, and social group inequalities? This project aims to improve understanding of community heterogeneity by linking feminist theory of gender norms--or the social rules that prescribe differential roles and conducts for women and men in society--to theories of social change that forefront patterning in the mechanisms which hinder, or, alternatively, catalyze broad-based agency and inclusive development. The concept of local normative climate is developed to address the contextual and fluid ways in which norms both shape and are shaped by women’s and men’s agency and capacities for innovation in their rural livelihoods. The approach assumes inequitable social relations but questions how the norms which underpin these inequalities are practiced and negotiated by different gender and social groups (e.g. due to differences in age-group or socio-economic status). Normative climate is employed to analyze women’s and men’s assessments of their capacity to make important decisions (or exercise agency) and escape poverty, and the role of agricultural innovation in these processes. The analysis draws from a dataset of 137 village case studies from 26 countries, which is part of the GENNOVATE (Enabling Gender Equality in Agricultural and Environmental Innovation) research initiative. The final empirical chapter presents compelling evidence of how an inclusive normative climate that is stimulating gender equality in a village is associated with significantly increased agency and agricultural innovation among both women and men as well as accelerated poverty reduction.