The purpose of the study is to investigate how male and female characters are portrayed in four English novels used by Form 2 and Form 3 students in Malaysian secondary schools. It is believed that the content of books read by students can leave an effect on their gender development. If the content is biased towards gender, the students may be influenced to accept the biased beliefs. Therefore, the study aims to determine if characters in the novels are given different prominence, personality traits, and roles. Through content analysis, the novels have been found to have unequal portrayal of male and female characters in terms of the number of characters depicted, the use of gender-specific pronouns, the personality traits, and the roles played by the characters. These findings are, to some extent, consistent with the findings of earlier studies in Malaysia and other countries. Based on this conclusion, it is hoped that further studies on the content of textbooks will be carried out in.....

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