Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies
In large corporations in Japan, much of the clerical work is carried out by young women known as "office ladies" (OLs) or "flowers of the workplace." Largely nameless, OLs serve tea to the men and type and file their reports. They are exempt from the traditional lifetime employment and have few opportunities for promotion. In this engaging ethnography, Yuko Ogasawara exposes the ways that these women resist men's power, and why the men, despite their exclusive command of authority, often...
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"Ogasawara treats women office workers not only as oppressed but as active players who express their dissatisfaction in highly nuanced public ways, engaging the hierarchies to their own ends, manipulating the dependencies of their male coworkers, and turning subordination on its head. Along the way, she slashes and burns a lot of old chestnut stereotypes about men, women, and work in Japan. A wonderful book."—Merry White, author of The Material Child
List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction11The Japanese Labor Market and Office Ladies172Why Office Ladies Do Not Organize443Gossip704Popularity Poll985Acts of Resistance1146Men Curry Favor with Women139Conclusion155Appendix A: Data and Methods169App. BProfiles of Sarariman and Office Ladies Interviewed178App. CProfiles of Fifteen Office Ladies at Tozai Bank182App. DProfiles of Interviewees on Valentine's Day Gift-Giving183App. ESummary of Telephone Interviews with Sarariman Wives Regarding White Day185Notes187Glossary201References203Index213
