This study examines the dyadic influence of institutional contextual constraints and entrepreneurship in rural contexts. Women and men entrepreneurs influence traditional norms in rural contexts and alter them through emancipation. The emergent themes of emancipation, empowerment, and family business as emancipatory space are present in 30 life stories exemplified by the life stories of four couples managing family businesses in the province of Småland, the southern part of Sweden. The findings reveal that rural family businesses provide women with a secure space that empowers and emancipates them. Fathers play an important role in their daughters' challenging traditional rural norms. The article contributes to the agency theory and constrained entrepreneurship literature.