Changing gender contracts in self-help housing construction in Botswana: the case of Lobatse

Taking Lobatse as a case study, the paper tries to identify gender contracts formed as a result of men's takeover of construction activities which were traditionally undertaken by women in Botswana. It notes that besides dominating construction work, men control access to land, building skills, housing finance, and the entire self-help housing process in Lobatse, thereby forcing women into subordinate positions from which they have to bargain or negotiate new gender contracts.