One Company, Four Female Manager Ratios

Does this company have many women in management? It sounds like a simple question, and it keeps coming up in competitor analysis. Open the annual securities report Hitachi filed in June 2026 and the same table gives four answers: 17.4%, 22.7%, 8.9% and 6.8%.

None of them is wrong. It is the same measure, counted over four different scopes.

Whose number is whose

One company has four female manager ratios, and the two that fit people in Japan are the low ones

Hitachi female manager ratio by scope (annual securities report, 157th term, FY2025, employee section)

• Outside Japan (consolidated)
  22.7%
• Group, consolidated
  17.4%
• Hitachi, Ltd. (parent)Women’s Advancement Act basis
  8.9%
• Japan (consolidated)
  6.8%

Global scopesScopes people in Japan work in

None of them is wrong. Before using a number, check whose number it is.

17.4% is the company and its group, the consolidated figure. Split out, consolidated subsidiaries outside Japan are at 22.7% and those in Japan at 6.8%. 8.9% is the filing company, Hitachi, Ltd. itself, calculated under the Act on Promotion of Women's Participation.

The same report lists domestic subsidiaries one by one. Several are at 0.0%. One reaches 26.0%.

So if a candidate in Japan asks whether Hitachi has many women managers, the relevant range is 6.8% to 8.9%, not 17.4%. If the question is about global promotion paths, 17.4% and 22.7% are closer. The right number depends on who is asking.

The company's own report labels scope, and still mixes it into the trend

Part of the group’s rise is a change in what was counted

Hitachi female manager ratio, FY2020 to FY2024, % (Integrated Report 2025, data page)

Upper line: Hitachi Group. Lower line: Hitachi, Ltd.Jump that includes a scope change

When the scope moves, a trend line can’t separate real promotion from counting. Read the scope note before comparing years.

Hitachi's Integrated Report 2025 puts both scopes side by side. The group rose from 9.5% in FY2020 to 15.8% in FY2024; Hitachi, Ltd. from 6.5% to 8.5%. The scope is clearly labeled. In that sense the numbers line up.

A footnote adds that the increase in women managers includes the effect of an expanded counting scope and changes in consolidated companies. The group line jumps in FY2022. The report does not say how much of that jump is scope and how much is more women being promoted.

Most companies give you only one number

Hitachi is the exception. PwC Japan analyzed securities reports for the year to March 2023 from 890 non-financial companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime market with March year-ends. Of the 850 that disclosed a female manager ratio, 91% gave only an individual-company figure; 9% gave a consolidated one.

In most cases, then, the number in the securities report covers only the parent. A holding company may employ a few hundred people while the business sits in subsidiaries, and for companies with large overseas operations the gap between parent and group can be wide. Corporate websites, integrated reports and careers pages, meanwhile, often quote group or global figures. Put the two side by side without aligning scope and you will reach the wrong conclusion.

A cross-check list

When I do competitor analysis and market mapping, I run through these:

• The employee section of the securities report: first see whether a figure is for the filing company or consolidated, and whether Japan and overseas are split. Average age, tenure and salary are parent-only figures.
• Integrated reports and sustainability data: find the scope and footnote next to each number, especially notes on expanded scope or changes in consolidated companies.
• The MHLW database of companies promoting women's participation: individual-company figures, managers defined as section chief and above, with a stated date. Unlisted companies appear too, which fills gaps the securities reports leave.
• Certifications such as Kurumin and Eruboshi: check against the ministry's list of certified companies, not a logo on a careers page.
• Year and date: securities reports use fiscal year-end, the database often another date. Two numbers from different years cannot simply be subtracted.

The principle is the same as in the post on why most Japanese companies' financials are not public: when scopes do not match, mark the cell as a different scope rather than filling it in by inference.

Some limits of this piece. I used only one company, Hitachi, because it discloses enough to show four scopes. That does not mean other companies show gaps this large, or that any Hitachi figure is a problem.

The Integrated Report 2025 covers FY2024 and the securities report covers FY2025, so I have not compared the two sets directly.

And PwC's count is for the year to March 2023. More companies may disclose consolidated figures by now.

In your own competitor table, which scope is the number in the women-in-management column?