Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies [Paperback]

Yuko Ogasawara (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520210441 | ISBN-13: 978-0520210448 | Publication Date: June 30, 1998 | Edition: 1

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 subject themselves to the women's control. Ogasawara, a Japanese sociologist trained in the United States, skillfully mines perceptive participant-observation analyses and numerous interviews to outline the tensions and humiliations of OL work. She details the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that OLs who are frustrated by demeaning, dead-end jobs thwart their managers and subvert the power structure to their advantage. Using gossip, outright work refusal, and public gift-giving as manipulative strategies, they can ultimately make or break the careers of the men. This intimate and absorbing analysis illustrates how the relationships between women and work, and women and men, are far more complex than the previous literature has shown.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"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

From the Back Cover

"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) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (June 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520210441
• ISBN-13: 978-0520210448
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good study of gender and power in Japanese business, July 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies (Paperback)

The author writes clearly and convincingly about the experience of being an office lady. She explains her entry into the work place, the importance of pecking order among both men and women, and more interestingly, the interaction between men and women in the workplace.

A fascinating study on formal gift giving between men and women, and the opportunities to give strong feedback to workers who have displeased the gift giver is worth the price of the book.

For readers looking for an insight into gender related work issues in Japan, and some wonderful clues about the real balance of power in the office, read on.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Subvert the dominant paradigm., September 19, 2002

By 

Andrew C Curry (Orlando Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies (Paperback)

This book (actually a dissertation) describes the power-hierarchy in Japanese companies. Throughout modernity-and into post-modernity- women in the professional Japanese workforce are often given jobs of menial nature. These women, so called "office ladies" or "office flowers", are not given the opportunity for career advancement. Instead they are bounded to their male superiors for whatever clerical jobs these men may desire. Ogasawara, however, posits that "office ladies" actually hold more power than is perceived on the surface. These women, because of their ability to make copies, types documents, and in some cases write detailed reports for the men, are highly valued. These men must, in a sense, "curry favor" with these women in order to: 1) Prove that they will be competent managers in the future and 2) handle all that is required of them from their superiors. (The abundant workload often leaves male employees with little time for making copies, running errands etc.)

The methodology the author uses is participant observation. A great book for anyone interested in Japanese societal structure