Gender equality with traffic lights is being pursued in Dortmund, with 50/50 quotas for male and female icons set to be introduced.

Politicians from the Social Democratic and Green parties in the German city have asked the council to consider the idea.

They’ve argued that some of the lights should be partially modified in the name of equality.

Gender equality with traffic lights is being pursued in Dortmund, with 50/50 quotas for male and female icons set to be introduced

The application said: ‘Since we give equal treatment to men and women, it would be consistent to partially modify traffic-light men to traffic-light women’, according to The Guardian.

The plan is for extra flashing green women to be installed when traffic lights fall into disrepair to keep costs at a minimum.

The plan’s backers claim that the change would make crossing the road safer as female icons – or Ampelfrauen - would emit more light through the skirt.

‘One advantage of the “traffic light woman” would be the enlargement of the illuminated area," the Green and Social Democrats said in a statement.

Other German cities such as Bremen, Cologne, Dresden, Kassel, Magdeburg and Zwickau already have female lights, but their introduction was barred in Berlin, with officials concerned that the design – of a girl with pigtails – was too clichéd, The Guardian reported.