Twitter sued for targeting women in layoffs

Two women who were laid off from their jobs at Twitter last month have launched a class action lawsuit against the company for gender discrimination, alleging that women were disproportionately targeted in the chaos that followed Elon Musk's takeover.

Engineer Willow Turkal and sales lead Carolina Strifling filed the suit on Wednesday, citing figures that show Twitter laid off 57% of its women workers in comparison to 47% of men. The disparity increases in the engineering department, where 63% of women and 48% of men in engineering roles were laid off. If substantiated, these numbers put Twitter in violation of US laws against gender discrimination.

This lawsuit is the fourth originating from the November layoffs - other suits involve allegations that employees weren't given sufficient notice before being terminated, that employees have not been paid proper severance, and that disabled employees and employees taking family or medical leave have been illegally targeted by Musk's demand for 'hardcore' work.

The latest lawsuit is particularly ironic in view of Twitter's previous goal to have half its workforce made up of women by 2025, and its April report that it had 'made great strides in Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA)'. The company has also taken down a page on its careers site that previously showed its representation of women and minority groups. However, head of of diversity, equity, inclusion & accessibility James Loduca seems to have kept his job.