While Australian women are underrepresented in STEM fields, that isn鈥檛 stopping women from excelling in tech startups, according to a new survey of Australian girl tech entrepreneurs.

The survey, conducted by , included qualitative responses from nearly 50 Australian girl tech entrepreneurs , which pointed to a host of barriers contributing to inequality in the industry

It found that while the government and various groups are working to make STEM education more accessible and suited to women, with women entrepreneurs聽 finding 鈥渓ateral鈥� ways to become involved with tech companies.

鈥淭he current generation of women are finding a lateral way to enter this men-dominated field, using their domain experience and leadership skills to solve problems with unique products,鈥� the study says.

鈥淭hey will be role models and, it is to be hoped, become mentors to other women with technical ideas to be realised.鈥�

Finding other ways into the tech industry

Only 19 per cent of the women entrepreneurs surveyed had a background in STEM, while only 4 per cent had a computer science background. In contrast, nearly half had a degree in business, commerce or economics.

The survey found the majority of women entrepreneurs are managing tech teams, with 50 per cent in outsourcing roles, 32 per cent finding a tech-based co-founder, and 14 per cent employing technical staff.

Founder and director of Alexandra Kinloch says you don鈥檛 need to have a background in STEM to be involved in a tech startup.

鈥淭here is a perception, or at least has been a perception in the past, that you needed to have technical skills in order to run a startup,鈥� Kinloch says.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe that is the case and not all startups require cutting edge technology. I believe that the number of women-led startups in Australia will increase dramatically in the next five years.鈥�

According to an only 28 per cent of employed STEM-qualified Australians were women in 2011, and this number fell to 14 per cent when looking at engineering.

Many barriers in place

According to the , the number of women tech entrepreneurs in Australia is rising slowly, from 16 per cent in 2011 to 19 per cent in 2013. Responses to Terem Technologies latest survey shed some light on the barriers facing women in the tech industry.

More than a third of those surveyed named a perceived lack of expertise and confidence as factors preventing women from being involved with tech startups, while 27聽per cent聽pointed to negative attitudes playing a role.

Nearly 30 per cent of those surveyed said they felt they didn鈥檛 have the same access to network advantages as their man counterparts.

Terem Technologies CEO Scott Middleton says he hopes this study will highlight these disadvantages and barriers, and help people to work to remove them.

鈥淗opefully this survey highlights to those thinking about jumping in that they can: the women we surveyed are overcoming all kinds of hurdles to succeed and thrive,鈥� he says.

鈥淲e hope that they will inspire many more like them and that the numbers of women entrepreneurs will climb rapidly as role models become more visible.鈥�