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Abstract
This paper explores gender relations in two Sesotho novels by Thabonyane Mafata. The study aims to establish the attributes culturally ascribed to women and men as ‘textual people’. Culture is viewed in the context of patriarchy, which influences the way men and women are portrayed in the novels. The focus is therefore on the influence of patriarchal culture on the behaviour of female and male characters in the novels. It is observed that both men and women as literary characters are presented as cultural stereotypes in the sense that they stand for patriarchal ideas that exist in the form of categories in the minds of readers. Males and females in the novels are characterized as representatives of their gender groups and their behaviour is somewhat similar and expected.