This paper analyses the regional variation of gender norms towards parents in Germany and their relation to labor market outcomes. For this purpose, we present new fine-grained regional survey data of gender norms. Regional differences of gender norms go beyond known differences between East and West Germany. We find that perceptions of gender norms are widely dispersed and individual misperceptions are large with up to 70 percent overestimation of the gender norm. Turning to labor market outcomes, gender norms predict intra-household decisions of parents about parental leave and employment in the short- and the long-run. Similar relationships are present on the aggregated regional level where progressive gender norms predict smaller gender employment gaps between males and females.