The depth and breadth of female talent in Australia may surprise you.

The Australian funds management landscape continues to change - arguably for the better. And while male portfolio managers and analysts far outnumber their female peers, the industry is starting to wake up to the idea that the status quo isn't good enough.

After all, research has consistently shown that investments run by gender-diverse teams typically perform better. And if research on performance isn't enough to convince firms to hire (and promote) more women, investors themselves are starting to demand greater diversity from the funds that they invest in.

While a handful of female senior portfolio managers might come to mind, a breadth of talent within the industry has so far gone unrecognised.

In fact, by our count, there are 340 female chief investment officers, portfolio managers and analysts within the Australian funds management industry.

And that number is only growing, with fabulous initiatives such as Future Females in Finance (The F3 Project) and Future IM/Pact helping young Australian women recognise how rewarding a career in investments can be, and helping these very women get a foot in the door.

Over the years, a criticism of Livewire has been that we don’t showcase the insights and analysis of more female investors. There’s been a lack of diversity on our platform. It's feedback we've taken seriously and we have taken proactive steps to address this in our content.

Since producing this list in 2023, the Livewire team has made a conscious and consistent effort to feature more female talent on the platform. While we have featured more women in our content than in previous years, we acknowledge that we have hardly scratched the surface when taking in the list below.

There was quite a lot of movement over the past 12 months - with 36 women leaving roles (some for new positions at different firms) during the year. Pleasingly, the list of female CIOs, portfolio managers and analysts in the local funds management industry has grown by 18% (by our count) since we last updated the list.

We acknowledge this list doesn’t solve the issue of gender diversity, however, it does highlight the breadth of female talent working in investment teams in Australia.

We hope that other media organisations can use this list to feature diverse female talent in their content and that it puts a spotlight on the emerging talent in the funds management industry.

Click here to see the BIG list of women in funds management in Australia.