In recent years the number of people living in informal or 'squatter' settlements in South Africa has mushroomed and virtually every small town or city has one or more squatter settlements associated with it, often next door to the formal residential areas. Using field data collected from 1993 in two informal settlements in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa this study examines, firstly, the ways in which men and women in these communities organise their lives in their households and in the wider society. Secondly, it assesses the physical environment of informal settlements where there is a lack of service infrastructure, especially water, sewerage facilities, refuse removal and roads. Also, it was assumed that the presence of large numbers of people in an informal settlement has a deleterious effect on natural resources like the soil, wood, vegetation and water and that this may have a significant contribution to environmental pollution and degradation. This aspect was also examined. / Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)