Two major international power lists have dropped, highlighting the world’s most influential and powerful women across politics, business, activism, media and entertainment, philanthropy, technology, and venture capital.
Four Australian women made the cut in Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list, while two Australians were named in the BBC 100 Women list.
So who made the cut? Here’s our rundown.
Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women
Gina Rinehart
Australia’s richest person and mining magnate Gina Rinehart made Forbes’ list at number 45. With a net worth of $27.9 billion, Rinehart is a heavyweight in the mining sector as the chair of Hancock Prospecting, the company her late father founded. Rinehart is massively influential in business and political circles and was recently pictured at the launch of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign announcement.
Shemara Wikramanayake
CEO and Managing Director of Macquarie Group, Shemara Wikramanayake is ranked at 52 on Forbes’ list, recognised for her leadership in the finance sector. Wikramanayake joined Macquarie in 1987, and was appointed head of Macquarie Asset Management in 2008. She was appointed as the CEO of Macquarie Group in 2018 and has been no stranger to international power lists since.
Wikramanayake has often talked about how her career was made possible due to the support of her husband, who took on the primary caregiving role to their children.
Robyn Denholm
Chair of Tesla, Robyn Denholm is ranked 64th on Forbes’ most powerful women list. Denholm succeeded Elon Musk to become Tesla’s Chair in 2018, having previously been a director on the board since 2014.
Denholm also holds other influential positions as the operating partner of venture capital firm Blackbird Ventures and as the Chair of the Technology Council of Australia. She is also one of very few female investors in sports teams in Australia, owning a 30 per cent stake in the men’s basketball team Sydney Kings.
Julia Gillard
Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard made the Forbes list at number 90, recognised for her impact as the chair of the UK’s Wellcome Trust, a biomedical research foundation that has a more than 25-billion-pound endowment.
As a former prime minister and the first woman to lead Australia, Gillard continues to have significant impact on social conversations particularly when it comes to women in leadership, and is also the chair of Beyond Blue, a leading mental health awareness organisation and the inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.
BBC 100 Women
Chanel Contos
Consent education advocate Chanel Contos has been included in this year’s BBC 100 Women list, which celebrates the achievements of women internationally, from grassroots volunteers to global leaders.
Contos is the founder of a movement dubbed ‘Teach Us Consent’ that lobbies for holistic consent and sexuality education. She made international headlines in 2021 when she started sharing responses on Instagram to her request for young Australian women to report on their experiences of sexual assault. She spearheaded a petition to get consent education taught in Australian schools. In February this year, federal, state and territory governments came together to legislate nation-wide consent education in Australian schools from 2023.
Sally Scales
Nominated by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, art consultant Sally Scales was named in the BBC 100 Women list in recognition of the impact she has had as the young person elected as Chair of the APY Executive Board Council, and in the group working with federal government on reform relating to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the referendum on a “Voice” to parliament.
Scales is a Pitjantjatjara woman from Pipalyatjara in the far west of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, in remote South Australia. She is also spokesperson for the APY Art Centre Collective, a group of indigenous-owned cultural enterprises.
“Sally is a creator of both wonderful art and human understanding. By enlightening and enthusing others, she catalyses the many changes needed to end the pernicious combination of racism and sexism,” Julia Gillard said about Scales.