Women at Microsoft working in US-based technical jobs filed 238 internal complaints about gender discrimination or sexual harassment between 2010 and 2016, according to court filings made public this week.

The figure was cited by plaintiffs suing Microsoft for systematically denying pay raises or promotions to women at the world's largest software company. Microsoft denies it had any such policy.

The lawsuit, filed in Seattle federal court in 2015, is attracting wider attention after a series of powerful men have left or been fired from their jobs in entertainment, the media and politics for sexual misconduct.

Plaintiffs' attorneys are pushing to proceed as a class action lawsuit, which could cover more than 8000 women.

More details about Microsoft's human resources practices were made public this week on in legal filings submitted as part of that process.