The Australian Women's Leadership and Lifestyle Survey was conducted by Ballarat woman Meg Filip.

Ms Filip runs a coaching, consulting and leadership development business and is passionate about understanding women in leadership and management roles.

"About 12 months ago I saw the latest statistics to come out from the Equal Opportunity for Women and every year they have a look at the statistics for women in leadership positions and (the number) had actually decreased," she said.

"I was really curious to understand why."

Ms Filip completed an initial study with a small number of women from her network and found the main thing holding women back was their own mindsets and a lack of self-belief and self-confidence.

A more in-depth study of hundreds of women from Australia and New Zealand found most women shared the same concerns.

Ms Filip found women were frustrated by trying to balance work, family and life, they were receiving lower pay than men, and were sick of being treated like a "girlie".

Two Ballarat women who completed the survey are business owners Carol O'Meara and Deb Whitecross.

"We've all got the capacity to do well and to be as good as any fella or anybody else, but then we just don't have that deep down, fundamental self-confidence," Ms Whitecross said.

"What I've actually been saying for years is why is it when a women gets called into their boss's office they think 'what have I done wrong?', whereas a men thinks 'this could be a raise'.

"And I think what it comes down to is thousands of years of oppressed attitude that women have built into their system and I think it's all subconscious."

Ms O'Meara suggested at times women could be their own worst enemy.

"We don't support each other, we keep putting each other down," she said.

"Why is it so many women prefer to have a male influence than a female for a boss? There's that bitchiness."

Ms Filip said she hopes to take the survey to the next level and run it annually or even take the results to government.