An understanding of gender relations on a local level needs a theoretical point of departure that allows for discursive as well as material interpretations and explanations. This paper is about men’s and women’s understandings of their everyday lives and place-specific gendered practices. The study is highlighting the presence of discourse and the need for a perspective taking the relativity of space into consideration. The results from interview studies in three Swedish regions show that patterns of action is explained in terms of path dependence, local tradition and regional belonging. At the same time – the self is positioned outside these “hegemonic” locally based gender relations. The “practice of one’s own is more modern or equal and thus described as deviant from the presumed local gendered practice. In investigating relations among men and women at a local level, a concept is needed that embraces the many forms for arranging relations between men and women, informal and formal, tacit or explicit. Gender contract is a concept that works at three levels: the metaphysical level, including cultural myths and representations; the concrete and institutional level, for example in employment and politics; and, the individual level among men and women in relationships and in homes. The household practices found within this project can be labeled the ambiguous, the post modernistic and the multifaceted contract, each one reflecting the fluid character and the ongoing transformation of gender relations.