Diversity
Policy and Basic Concept
ITOCHU Corporation views diversifying consumer needs with a market-oriented approach. We believe accepting and utilizing diversity (DE&I: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is essential to provide new value.
ITOCHU respects human rights and prohibits all forms of discrimination, including that based on race, gender, religion, nationality and age. We are creating an environment where employees do not fall victim to power harassment, sexual harassment, or SOGI (Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity) harassment in the workplace and where we accept diverse values. This is an environment where each of our employees is motivated to work and can demonstrate their abilities to the fullest through flexible work styles and individual support, and support for proactive career development, to achieve “A Challenging but Rewarding Company.”
Targets and Action Plan
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| Division Company | SDGs Targets | Impact Classification | Issues to Address | Business Area | Commitment | Specific Approach | Performance Indicators (Non-Consolidated) |
Degree of Progress |
| Headquarters |    |
Labor Practices | Creating an environment that allows diverse human resources to exercise their potential | Human resources affairs | We will prohibit all types of discrimination, including those based on race, gender, religion, nationality and age, and respect human rights. We will accept diverse values and create an environment where each employee maximize their ability with flexible working style and other supports. |
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Expanded Support for dual-income Households and Shared Parenting The following initiatives have been introduced to support employees in balancing work with childcare, nursing care, and other personal responsibilities:
Preconception Care Programs based on the concept of preconception care are provided to younger employees as an opportunity to offer accurate knowledge about health changes across life stages and to help them learn, at an early stage, the importance of health management. |
Initiatives for Women’s Advancement
ITOCHU Corporation has expanded systems to further the diversification of its talent including female employees and to entrench that diversification with the Plan for Promotion of Human Resource Diversification. We have tackled initiatives such as morning-focused work, health management and measures to support working while undergoing cancer treatment since FY2010. This is based on work-style reform to raise labor productivity by all employees working in good health with high motivation. Those initiatives have led to the formation of a working environment where not just employees with time constraints, but all our employees, regardless of gender, can demonstrate their abilities.
With the promotion of digital transformation (DX) and the advancement of internal management, the environment surrounding clerical work has significantly changed. Following discussions by the Women’s Advancement Committee in FY2024, chaired by an external director, and the Management Committee, we have reaffirmed the importance of clerical staff and their role as the organizational hub. Therefore, we have changed the job category name to Business Expert (BX) starting in April 2025. We will further strengthen recruitment of new graduates and experienced professionals regardless of gender and promote proactive career development focused on specialization while expanding support for continuous learning to enhance specialized knowledge and skills. Furthermore, in response to the growing number of applicants from outside the Kanto region, we started providing company dormitories as an employee benefit to those who wish to use them from March 2026.
Action Plan Based on the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace
Currently, the generation with an increased number of female hires has entered an important stage when those employees are becoming candidates for managerial positions. We are providing meticulous individual support according to the life stage and career of each employee by utilizing systems which support a work-life balance beyond the level required by law as a safety net in anticipation of an increase in dual-income households. In 2025, we completed the integration of our two existing women’s dormitories in the Tokyo metropolitan area into a newly constructed facility. We use the dormitory as a platform for internal networking and talent development. Additionally, we are looking to contribute to Goal 5 of the SDGs (e.g., gender equality) not only for our company but also for Japan. We are doing this by fostering an internal culture in which diverse employees can be a success and by declaring our endorsement of measures to promote the success of women in the workplace by government agencies and economic bodies.
Please refer to our action plan stipulating specific targets and initiatives moving forward.
Women’s Advancement Committee
We established the Women’s Advancement Committee in October 2021 as a voluntary advisory committee of the Board of Directors to accelerate the pace of our support for the success of female employees. An Outside Director serves as the chair of the committee. We have built a structure in which outside officers account for more than half of the total number of committee members with the Board of Directors supervising important measures. The committee is working together with the management to support the success of women. We will continue to move through the PDCA cycle of (1) hold discussions with sites, (2) hold discussions in the Women’s Advancement Committee and (3) report to the Board of Directors after grasping sites and individual circumstances in the future. We will then incorporate the results into effective measures.
In December 2023, based on the recommendations of the Women’s Advancement Committee, we established a special measure applicable exclusively to women for appointment as Executive Officers. This measure was approved by the Board of Directors, to promote the appointment of female Executive Officers starting in FY2024. Since 2024, a total of 12 female employees have been internally appointed. As a result, the proportion of women among all officers, including Executive Officers, reached 29% as of April 2026. Aiming to increase the ratio of female officers to 30% by FY2030, we are committed to fostering a diverse, strong, and resilient corporate culture.
Structure for Women’s Advancement (As of April 2026)
Encouraging Women’s Empowerment in the Workplace
ITOCHU Corporation established a new rule for selecting female executive officers and promoted female employees from within to executive officers in April 2024. The most significant reason behind internal promotion was the need to raise awareness that the promotion of women itself is not the sole purpose, but cultivating a company-wide culture of training female managers and executives is. A diverse, strong, and resilient corporate culture and Board of Directors cannot be created overnight but will take years to develop.
ITOCHU positions Femtech to be the next initiative following work-style reforms. ITOCHU aims to be a company where female employees can take a more active role by removing barriers that may come in their way.
I believe, in such a company, anyone, regardless of gender, will be able to demonstrate their full potential.
Masahiro Okafuji
Chairman & CEO
Promoting Understanding and Fostering a Positive Work Culture
Since FY2018, ITOCHU Corporation has been holding Diversity Days as one of the initiatives to promote understanding and acceptance of diversity. ITOCHU has also increased the frequency of awareness campaigns targeting all employees. Through executive training programs and other initiatives, we are promoting understanding of the importance of diversity and support systems.
Additionally, we are establishing a workplace environment where discriminatory remarks about sexual orientation/gender identity and comments premised on unconscious gender stereotypes are not tolerated. Employees also have access to consultation services.
In FY2025, one Company independently organized a seminar for female employees, providing an opportunity for participants to reflect on their future career plans through presentations by our female Executive Officers and managers. In addition, one of our female Executive Officers spoke at a diversity promotion seminar hosted by the Japan Foreign Trade Council. The seminar was attended by more than 200 participants from member companies, and she shared her perspectives on career development and management.
For more details, please refer to Diversity promotion seminar hosted by the Japan Foreign Trade Council
(Japanese only).
In FY2024, we held several seminars on the theme of utilizing Femtech, focusing on topics such as egg freezing and menopause support, with participation from over 100 employees. Additionally, to promote understanding of Femtech, we installed Femtech-related product vending machines called Femtech-kun®—offering items such as menstrual products, health and femcare goods, fertility support items, and menopause-related products—at our Tokyo Headquarters and ITOCHU SDGs STUDIO from August 2024 to May 2026.
In FY2025, we made an online content available to all employees featuring an occupational physician explaining women’s life stages and related health issues. In addition, we held a seminar on the use of Kampo medicine to help alleviate autonomic nervous system imbalance and menopausal symptoms, providing opportunities for employees of all ages and genders to deepen their understanding of health issues.
Support for LGBTQ and Other Sexual Minorities
In FY2018, we installed a multipurpose restroom on the internal meeting room floor, making it available not only to our employees but also to all visitors to our building. In addition, we have worked to create a workplace environment that does not tolerate discriminatory remarks related to sexual orientation or gender identity, or comments based on unconscious assumptions about gender roles. In FY2020, we also established an external consultation desk dedicated to LGBTQ and other sexual minorities, in addition to our existing employee consultation desks. This system allows employees to consult anonymously with experts not only about their own concerns, but also about how to interact with colleagues and business partners.
During ITOCHU Diversity Days in FY2025, we held workshops aimed at fostering a workplace environment in which diverse values are respected and all employees can fully demonstrate their abilities. These workshops focused on deepening understanding of LGBTQ issues and balancing childcare and work from the perspective of those directly affected. As part of these initiatives, we distributed original ALLY stickers so that employees could express their support as allies, and we also worked to strengthen internal support systems. At regular meetings with employees who had expressed their support as ALLYs, we held discussions aimed at eliminating unconscious bias and organized seminars led by external experts. In addition, in leadership training sessions, we administered a quiz to approximately 700 organizational leaders using topics such as LGBTQ issues and Femtech, in order to raise awareness of unconscious bias and human rights.
Diverse External Support Programs
We respect the diverse values of our employees and their families. We are creating an environment where all our employees can demonstrate their abilities with peace of mind.
| Program | Category | Overview |
| Concierge for health/childcare | Health, Childcare | Employees in Japan and abroad and their families can anonymously consult online with a counselor in charge (a nurse and a midwife certified as a public health nurse) who understands ITOCHU System about their mental and physical health and childcare concerns. |
| Sick childcare and babysitter services | Childcare | ITOCHU contracted with sick childcare and babysitter services, available for reservations 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including same-day emergency requests. The service can also be used during business trips. Additional financial support is provided to help cover the costs. |
| Searching Nursery School Concierge | Childcare | Explains basic knowledge about how to search and select licensed nursery schools. Help to estimate the selection index for licensed nursery schools, lists neighboring nursery schools, and provides one-stop information. |
| Nursing Concierge | Nursing | A one-stop service and consultation service from temporary response to problem resolution by our company specialist counselor. Specific problem resolution includes introduction of our company system, introduction and arrangement of care managers, introduction and arrangement of nursing homes, coordination and arrangement of nursing insurance applications, etc. |
| Frozen Egg Bank | Egg Freezing | To support employees’ options in balancing career and life plan, from FY2023, ITOCHU started subsidizing egg freezing fee. |
| Consultation desk for LGBTQ | LGBTQ | Consult outside experts anonymously for concerns about sexual orientation and gender identity. Available to all parties. |
| Border-Less Medical Concierges | Lifestyle Disease | Each employee, whether domestic or foreign, is tutored by a public health nurse or nurse in close collaboration with a specialist in their particular lifestyle disease. |
Working Together with Persons with Disabilities
To provide persons with disabilities with a workplace that is motivating and rewarding, we established ITOCHU Uneedus Co., Ltd., in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture in 1987 (It was certified by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare as the first special-purpose subsidiary in Kanagawa Prefecture.) The employment rate for persons with disabilities in ITOCHU Corporation is 2.66% as of March 2026. We are promoting an expansion in the recruitment and range of work of persons with disabilities toward the increase in the statutory employment rate.
Initiatives by ITOCHU Uneedus Co., Ltd.
ITOCHU Uneedus Co., Ltd. is involved in businesses such as dry cleaning, printing, document digitization, photograph services, mail collection and delivery, and laundry and cleaning with persons with and without disabilities coming together as one to support each other. To expand business as well as to create a more welcoming workplace environment for employees with disabilities, in November 2015 the company relocated to new offices in Yokohama’s Tsuzuki Ward with the extensive equipment in a universal design. The company is currently involved in business in four locations: its Aoyama Office, Hiyoshi Office and a dry-cleaning service store called Yotsuba Cleaning (Asahi-ku, Yokohama) in addition to its head office in Yokohama’s Tsuzuki Ward. Furthermore, from September 2024, the company opened the Yotsuba Cleaning second store in Kohoku Ward, Yokohama City, and from January 2025, it also started the employment transition support business in Sumida Ward, Tokyo. It will continue to proactively encourage social participation by people with disabilities and to provide value to society through its work with the aim of creating a work environment where it is possible to feel the joy of working in the future.
Support for Seniors’ Success
ITOCHU Corporation employs all those who so desire under the Employment Extension System after they reach retirement age at 60 years old from the perspective of the decreasing birthrate and aging population in Japan and activity support for diverse personnel. This means we are developing an environment in which post retirement employees can continue to work utilizing the wealth of knowledge and experience they possess even after they have reached the retirement age. We also hold training for employees at the age of 58 years old and future course selection briefings for employees. Therefore, we are supporting work styles and money plans after the extension of the employment of employees. Furthermore, we hold career design training for employees between 48 and 55 years old. Those employees take an inventory of their own career and skills and then visualize their experience and strengths. Upon that, we provide them with the opportunity to consider re-learning career skills (re-skilling) they will need in the future. We even have some employees who continue working with us after they reach the age of 65 years old. We will do yet more to create an environment where post retirement employees can continue performing motivating and rewarding work. In addition, we have built a platform to support our former employees. We support the activities of our former employees even after they have left our company. This initiative includes providing opportunities for social contribution activities, Pro bono, and volunteers, management staff of KIDS PARK, workplace after-school childcare program operated by our company, and Japanese language instructors for our overseas local staff.
Performance Data
Number of Hires by Gender and Adoption Rate for Mid-Career
Employee Status (as of March 31 for each respective year)
Share of Women in Career-track / Managerial / General Managerial / Executive Positions (as of March 31 for each respective year)
Gender Pay Gap (as of March 31 for each respective year)
Use of Childcare and Nursing Care Programs
Employment of Disabled Persons (as of March 1 for each respective year)
Accolades for ITOCHU Corporation
ITOCHU Corporation’s initiatives in creating environments that bring out the best in employees have won much praise.
We received the Ministerial Award for Women Empowering Companies in FY2020. In FY2024, we were recognized as a Next Nadeshiko: Companies Supporting Dual Careers and Co-parenting, a designation jointly administered by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Tokyo Stock Exchange for listed companies with particularly outstanding gender-inclusive work-life balance support that enables both dual careers and co-parenting.
In addition, in FY2025, we were selected as a Nadeshiko Brand in recognition of our initiatives and achievements in providing consistent career development support from hiring through promotion, as well as gender-inclusive work-life balance support that enables both dual careers and co-parenting, following our previous selection in FY2021 and FY2023.
Furthermore, in January 2025, we received the Excellence Award in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Women’s Participation Promotion Award (Corporate Category) in recognition of our community-engaged workplace-based after-school care initiatives and the implementation of a morning-focused flextime system.
For more details, please refer to Evaluation by Society (Diversity).