To investigate the gender differences in cognitive function impairment in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Fifty-five patients with schizophrenia and 55 healthy controls were recruited and assigned to the schizophrenia group and control group, respectively. The Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) was used to evaluate cognitive function in both groups. Subsequent, we investigated gender differences in cognitive function in the schizophrenia group. Results: The schizophrenia group scored significantly lower than the control group on all 6 cognitive tests in the BACS (P<0.01). Within the schizophrenia group, the performance of male patients on the verbal fluency test was much lower than that of female patients (P< 0.05). Conclusion: This study shows that patients with schizophrenia suffer significant cognitive impairment. Furthermore, male schizophrenic patients show a greater impairment in verbal fluency than female patients.