PricewaterhouseCoopers probes email rating female staff

The emails, which were sent between up to 17 male staff at PwC's Dublin office, included pictures of 13 women who had recently joined the company. In the emails the male employees were asked to nominate their "top ten" women based on looks, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The women, whose pictures were accompanied by their names and departments, all recently joined the firm as trainee accountants or "associates".

After being sent among PwC staff, the emails, which had a subject line of "this would be my shortlist for the top 10", were forwarded on to workers at other businesses and went "viral" across the internet.

The company was alerted to the emails by the Irish Independent newspaper.

Carmel O'Connor, PwC's human resources partner, told the paper: "We are taking this matter extremely seriously and are launching a full investigation. We will take all necessary steps and actions in line with our firm's polices and procedures."

She said that the company had not yet contacted the men involved and refused to say whether they would be sacked.