diff --git a/package/python/python.mk b/package/python/python.mk
index 6187d66e7d..163e6f579b 100644
--- a/package/python/python.mk
+++ b/package/python/python.mk
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ HOST_PYTHON_CONF_OPT += 	\
 	--disable-curses	\
 	--disable-codecs-cjk	\
 	--disable-nis		\
-	--disable-unicodedata	\
 	--disable-dbm		\
 	--disable-gdbm		\
 	--disable-bsddb		\
@@ -100,6 +99,7 @@ endif
 
 ifneq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_UNICODEDATA),y)
 PYTHON_CONF_OPT += --disable-unicodedata
+HOST_PYTHON_CONF_OPT += --disable-unicodedata
 endif
 
 # Default is UCS2 w/o a conf opt
diff --git a/package/python3/python3.mk b/package/python3/python3.mk
index b5e9689324..b032d15f45 100644
--- a/package/python3/python3.mk
+++ b/package/python3/python3.mk
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ HOST_PYTHON3_CONF_OPT += 	\
 	--disable-curses	\
 	--disable-codecs-cjk	\
 	--disable-nis		\
-	--disable-unicodedata	\
 	--disable-test-modules	\
 	--disable-idle3
 
@@ -88,6 +87,7 @@ endif
 
 ifneq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON3_UNICODEDATA),y)
 PYTHON3_CONF_OPT += --disable-unicodedata
+HOST_PYTHON3_CONF_OPT += --disable-unicodedata
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON3_BZIP2),y)