diff --git a/changelog/fragments/upgrade-python-on-ansible-operator.yaml b/changelog/fragments/upgrade-python-on-ansible-operator.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bee48527dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/fragments/upgrade-python-on-ansible-operator.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+entries:
+  - description: >
+      For Ansible-based operators, the Python version has been updated
+      to a newer version, from 3.6 to 3.8 to take advantage of performance
+      improvements, language additions, security updates and generally
+      better availability for local development.
+
+    kind: change
+
+    # Is this a breaking change?
+    breaking: false
diff --git a/images/ansible-operator/Dockerfile b/images/ansible-operator/Dockerfile
index 0b813e706f..a99461fab6 100644
--- a/images/ansible-operator/Dockerfile
+++ b/images/ansible-operator/Dockerfile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ ENV HOME=/opt/ansible \
 # yum clean all && rm -rf /var/yum/cache/* first
 RUN yum clean all && rm -rf /var/cache/yum/* \
   && yum -y update \
-  && yum install -y libffi-devel openssl-devel python36-devel gcc python3-pip python3-setuptools \
+  && yum install -y libffi-devel openssl-devel python38-devel gcc python38-pip python38-setuptools \
   && pip3 install --no-cache-dir \
     ansible-runner==1.3.4 \
     ansible-runner-http==1.0.0 \
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ RUN yum clean all && rm -rf /var/cache/yum/* \
     openshift==0.10.3 \
     ansible==2.9.15 \
     jmespath==0.10.0 \
-  && yum remove -y gcc libffi-devel openssl-devel python36-devel \
+  && yum remove -y gcc libffi-devel openssl-devel python38-devel \
   && yum clean all \
   && rm -rf /var/cache/yum
 
diff --git a/website/content/en/docs/building-operators/ansible/installation.md b/website/content/en/docs/building-operators/ansible/installation.md
index fdc5f5cdae..5b3141b329 100644
--- a/website/content/en/docs/building-operators/ansible/installation.md
+++ b/website/content/en/docs/building-operators/ansible/installation.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ weight: 1
 Follow the steps in the [installation guide][install-guide] to learn how to install the `operator-sdk` CLI tool.
 
 ## Additional Prerequisites
-
+- [python][python] version 3.8.6+
 - [ansible][ansible] version v2.9.0+
 - [ansible-runner][ansible-runner] version v1.1.0+
 - [ansible-runner-http][ansible-runner-http-plugin] version v1.0.0+
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ Follow the steps in the [installation guide][install-guide] to learn how to inst
 
 
 [install-guide]:/docs/installation/
+[python]:https://www.python.org/downloads/
 [ansible]:https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/index.html
 [ansible-runner]:https://ansible-runner.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html
 [ansible-runner-http-plugin]:https://github.com/ansible/ansible-runner-http