Women begin to take their place in elite billionaires’ club

These women magnates rule the richest roosts — and their male rivals can kiss their caviar and cocktail dreams goodbye.

Men are still a clear majority of the world’s billionaire population, but they no longer belong to the globe’s fastest-growing group of new billionaires, according to a study.

Leading this mega-rich pack is a parade of women who together make up 11 percent of all billionaires.

In fact, many of today’s rising magnates — from multi-millionaires to billionaires — are female and influential US figures like Meg Whitman and
Marissa Mayer, who control huge tech dynasties.

According to the new study from UBS Group and PwC (and representing 75 percent of global billionaire wealth, or 1,347 of the richest of the rich), the female billionaire population expanded faster than the male billionaire set over the past two decades.

“Women are taking their place in the elite club of billionaires, both as entrepreneurs in their own right and as leaders of family dynasties,” says the UBS/PwC study, which dubs this the “Athena Factor,” after the Greek goddess of wisdom, courage and inspiration.

“Compared with 20 years ago, there are more billionaire women today, and the power they wield over great wealth has grown,” the study found.

In the US, 57 percent of female billionaires are “creating wealth” for their families’ businesses, the study says.

The findings follow an in-depth analysis by Wealth-X earlier in 2015 of female wealth in the technology sector, which today is what railroads and retailing were in wealth creation in the last century.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the world’s richest person (this year worth $79.2 billion, according to Forbes). But some of the biggest tech giants today are headed by women.

Three of the five wealthiest women in the tech sector are billionaires, two of them based in the US, according to the analysis.

Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Meg Whitman clinched the top spot with a $1.3 billion fortune, mostly profits from the sales of her shares in eBay, a company she led until 2008.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg is second, with a net worth of $1.22 billion. China’s Lucy Peng, co-founder of Alibaba Group, is third, with a personal fortune of $1.2 billion.

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, who raised eyebrows for reportedly spending $7 million on a recent Great Gatsby-themed company holiday party, is worth $410 million, and ranked number 5. At 40, she is the youngest on the list.

Other women who are among the wealthiest may be considered old school.

They are led by the Walton clan, who struck gold with Walmart. Christy Walton and her family are at the top, and worth $174 billion.

In modern financial services, Abigail Johnson, CEO of mutual fund behemoth Fidelity Investments, is the world’s eighth-richest woman, with an estimated wealth of $13.1 billion.

Beth Blecker, a financial consultant at Eastern Planning, who has several women millionaire clients, is not surprised by the growth in the number of female billionaires.

“Men can be too confident,” she told The Post. “They believe there’s always another chance, which may be why many of them lose their fortunes.”

Male magnates through history have lost massive wealth, whether through misfortune, avarice or just bad judgment.

The UBS/PwC study says losing a fortune is not uncommon — of the 289 billionaires it counted back in 1989, only 126 are still on the list, though the overall number skyrocketed.

But “once they accumulate wealth,” said Blecker, “women tend to focus on capital preservation and loss prevention.”