Cycling's world governing body is planning a radical shakeup of the Olympic track schedule to even up the number of men's and women's events.

Currently, cycling has seven men's events and only three for the women at the velodrome during the Olympics.

Top women such as Australia's three-time Olympic medallist Anna Meares and her British sprint rival Victoria Pendleton have long protested about the imbalance.

The situation became worse last year in Beijing when cycling's governing body, the UCI, dropped the track time trials from the program to make way for BMX.

That reduced the number of women's track events from four to just three, while the men went from eight to seven.

Currently, the men have the individual and team pursuits, points race, madison, individual sprint, team sprint and keirin. The women only have the individual sprint, points race and individual pursuit.

The UCI wants to overhaul the track schedule for the 2012 London Olympics.

"I can confirm that I was mandated yesterday by the UCI to work out how we are going to achieve parity within track cycling for the 2012 Olympics, and it's a matter we're looking at with some urgency," UCI president Pat McQuaid told the cyclingnews website.

"The IOC wants to make an announcement about the program for London by December 12."

Whatever the UCI decide, their restructure is certain to generate plenty of debate in the sport.

Cycling is a notoriously-chauvinistic sport and there will be plenty of traditionalists who will agitate against parity for the women.

The overhaul could also be politically-sensitive for the London Games, given Britain currently dominates track cycling.

The British smashed the rest of the field in Beijing, winning an incredible seven gold medals on the track.

AAP