In 1847, three sisters from a Yorkshire village published novels under male names – Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Behind those identities were Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë – women who would transform English literature. 

From novels written under male pseudonyms to inventions credited to others, women have long been denied ownership of their ideas. 

Almost 200 years since the Brontë sisters first published, despite steady progress, women remain dramatically underrepresented in the world of intellectual property. 

In 2023, female inventors were five times less likely than male inventors to be listed on international patent applications – a gap that extends to trade marks, design rights and copyright registrations. 

The reasons are complex but familiar: women often have less access to funding, venture capital and mentorship. Centuries of having their ideas undervalued in male-dominated industries and teams have also left many women less likely to back themselves — and less confident in claiming their own creations.

While more women are creating, innovating and founding businesses than ever before, too few are protecting the ideas that power them.

In our She Built This series, we spoke with seven female founders who fought to secure their intellectual property in spite of the stats stacked against them.

Here’s the advice they want any potential founder to know.

Janae Henkel, founder of Little Harvesters

“You they don’t need to have all the answers – just the willingness to learn and take that first step towards getting your IP sorted.”

Janae put off trademarking her business for months, assuming she’d either need to hire a lawyer or take on a complex, expensive process herself. “When I found the IP Australia website, straight away I thought ‘I can do this!’ The steps are really clear and accessible, it made my life so much easier.”

Cherie Clonan, founder of The Digital Picnic

“We took the IP seriously in the first three months of the business because I wanted to be optimistic about where The Digital Picnic might end up. I didn’t want to fumble through it and not have a leg to stand on in the moment that I needed to.”

Cherie says a lack of optimism is often a result of imposter syndrome that many women experience in their early days of business. She encourages founders to take themselves seriously from the start, saying, “consider this your permission to take up space”.

Professor Fiona Wood AO, co-inventor of spray-on skin

“We made the mistake of lodging the provisional patent on the fly before we understood the whole game plan. After we lost the patent and had to come back at it from a different lens, the second bite of the cherry was a much more comprehensive one.”

Fiona stressed the importance of understanding how to share your ideas in a way that doesn’t compromise you. She says the best way to do this is to “have support in the right places – find a team of people you trust who operate with integrity.”

Sarah Sheridan and Laura Thompson (Gunditjmara), founders of Clothing the Gaps

“Our biggest advice? Google your business name and see what else comes up. You need to understand the full IP process and where your business is at with it.”

After receiving a cease and desist from US retail giant The Gap, Sarah and Laura learned that just because you’ve filed a trade mark, that doesn’t mean you’ve been given the green light to use it. The small change of adding an “s” to their name to comply with The Gap’s legal demands led to a costly rebrand of everything from email signatures to signage.

Professor Veena Sahajwalla AO, inventor of Green Steel and founder of UNSW SMaRT Centre

“There’s no such thing as a failed experiment – it’s only a failure if you haven’t learned from it.”

Veena encourages aspiring founders to lead with passion and resilience, reframing failures as “opportunities for growth”. Through her own experiences, she’s learned not to write off her ideas without first exploring a variety of different solutions.

Tess Robinson, founder of Smack Bang and co-founder of Land Lab

“If you’re getting an IP lawyer, find one who’s genuine and can actually be a real support.”

Tess explained that her IP lawyer does the first round of trade mark checks for free, whereas some lawyers will charge you just for opening an email. “Find someone who wants to help,” says Tess, and more importantly, “knows their sh*t”.

Whether you’re just starting out or already scaling, take these lessons as a reminder: protecting your ideas isn’t just about legalities – it’s about backing yourself, your business, and the future you’re building.

Women have always been creators. It’s long overdue that we became owners, too.