Less than a year after a gender discrimination lawsuit against venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers put Silicon Valley’s gender issues in the spotlight, private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is facing its own gender discrimination case.

Lisa Lee, a former managing director of CVC's investor relations group in New York, alleges that the firm unfairly favoured male employees, promoted less qualified male co-workers over her and tried to shoulder her out of many of her responsibilities when she took maternity leave, reassigning her work to male colleagues. She also alleges a "stark" gender imbalance at the firm's senior management.