So the one extra woman a year for the past couple of years indicates some progress, but still shows a serious gap in the number of self-made, mega-wealthy Australians.
Especially given this list purely focuses on Australians aged under 40 where — if anywhere — you’d hope, or maybe expect, to see the pipeline for female-generated wealth increasing.
This year fitness entrepreneur Kayla Itsines is the top women on the list, sharing the No. 5 and No. 6 spot with her fiancé Tobi Pearce, for the fortune they made through their hugely successful fitness app Sweat. They have a massive shared wealth of $486 million, making them the wealthiest self-made 20-somethings in Australia.
Itsines has had a very good year, having appeared in the 40th spot in 2017, with an estimated wealth of $63 million.
She’s just 27 years old.
Still, the wealth Itsines shares with partner Pearce is a long way off the mind-boggling number that puts Mike Cannon-Brookes & Scott Farquhar in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the list, with a combined $14.2 billion.
Envato co-founder Cyan Ta’eed is the second woman on the list, sharing the No. 8 and No. 9 spot with husband Collis, with a combined wealth of $428 million. Cyan recently launched social enterprise Hey Tiger.
Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins is the third highest woman on the list, sharing the joint No. 17 and No. 18, with a shared wealth of $177 million.
Miranda Kerr is then fourth highest female at No. 52, followed by fitness entrepreneur Emily Skye, with joint wealth of $36 million, placing her in the No. 67 spot on the list.
Showpo CEO Jane Lu makes the list again, this year in the 72nd spot. Alana Nicholls is in the 74th and 75th spot, and Triangl co founder Erin Deering is in the 77th spot.
And this year two women made the list for the first time, including Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris and Clearskincare Clinics’ Alarna Longes.
Rich List editor Julie-anne Sprague, who is the first woman to edit the list, discovered that Sweat, the fitness app from Itsines is making more money than those outside the business realised, leading the AFR to feature Itsines on tomorrow’s magazine cover.