Lego women are new scientists on the block in battle for equality

The cause of equality in science has taken one tiny, plastic step forward after Lego announced a series of figures depicting female scientists and their equipment.

The project was selected after winning an online vote on the Lego website and is set to hit shelves in August.

The series includes an astronomer with a telescope, a palaeontologist with a dinosaur skeleton and a chemist in a lab.

The project idea was submitted by Dr Ellen Kooijman, a geochemist in Stockholm. In her project proposal, Kooijman wrote: "The motto of these scientists is clear: explore the world and beyond!"

On her blog, Kooijman, an avid Lego builder, wrote: "As a female scientist I had noticed two things about the available Lego sets: a skewed male/female minifigure ratio and a rather stereotypical representation of the available female figures ...

"It seemed logical that I would suggest a small set of female minifigures in interesting professions to make our Lego city communities more diverse."