Women for Women : Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, runs the company through a male group, known internally as the S Team (Senior Team)

None of these women report directly to boss Jeff Bezos, but select all-male group of 12 have direct line, according to leakAmazon may share its name with mythology’s greatest female warriors, but the world’s largest online retailer employs just 18 women among its 120 most…

Daisy Sands, head of policy at the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for equality, said: “Across the UK today, only 35% of senior managers are women. Amazon makes even this paltry record look glowing. Excluding women from these influential roles means missing out on the substantial benefits that their greater involvement would bring.

“Evidence shows that more women in senior management leads to better corporate performance, a boost to the bottom line, and allows businesses to tap into new insights about their customers. Amazon must take firm action to ensure that it enables women to flourish at all levels of the company.”

Gender balance is an issue across the technology sector, despite Yahoo boss Marissa Mayer and Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg‘s arrival in Silicon Valley’s upper echelons.