Two women who lost their jobs at Twitter during mass layoffs after Elon Musk took over the company are suing, claiming that the company disproportionately targeted female employees during the cuts.

A new lawsuit claimed that Musk fired 57 per cent of its female workers compared with 47 per cent of men. However, the disproportion was even higher in engineering roles, where 63 per cent of women lost their jobs compared to 48 per cent of men, according to the new lawsuit.

It is enough of a statistic to suggest that Musk and his minions targeted women engineers during his purge even if that violates federal and California laws banning workplace sex discrimination.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said women “had targets on their backs” once Musk acquired the company, regardless of their talent and contributions.

Wren Turkal, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said she had been through acquisitions at other companies but had “never seen anything like this”.

“I have a family, I have a kid to support,” Turkal said at the press conference. “All that we’re looking for is fairness. I’m also worried about my friends who are financially in a difficult position or are in a difficult position for visa reasons.”

The lawsuit comes as Musk’s company faces investigations from city officials in San Francisco after Musk converted rooms in its headquarters to sleeping quarters.