Topic: serious question...

[Ratty]

Sypha was a woman but was referred to as a man in the English instruction manual (as was Samus Aran as Phoenix noted) I'm not sure if this was the case in the original Japanese manual. Her identification as a man in the English manual at least led to the funny situation of Sypha being portrayed as an old man in an awful, awful episode of Captain N: The Game Master. But yes she is indeed Sypha of the Belnades/Fernandez family and ancestor of the post-Trevor Belmonts.

[Koutei]

He, She were not used by the Japanese manual. Sypha is called Sypha. It had the intention which probably hides a secret.

[TheouAegis]

Considering how awkward it is to use he/she pronouns in Japanese, I don't think there was any intent to keep it a secret. Again, Sypha's art is female. Sypha's portrait if she's Trevor's ally is female. Sypha's voice is female. The only way Sypha could be confused for a male was if she was a new-half. So if you really want to push the "Sypha is a he" or "Sypha looks like a he" issue, then you have to go along with the premise that Sypha was a gay transvestite. Every serious gamer knows US instruction manuals are not canon except when the characters in the games are of US origin themselves  (e.g., Ninja Turtles, Mighty Max, Earthworm Jim, etc.).

[Phoenix7786]

Her in-game partner pic was hardly indicative of gender unless the U.S. and Japanese versions were different.

[Lelygax]

 Exactly, its like discovering the answer for a mistery and then saying "I always knew that, its obvious, it only took me some time because I wasnt even trying" xD