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Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies First Edition

by Yuko Ogasawara (Author)

11 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0520210448

ISBN-10: 9780520210448

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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.

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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

Product details

ASIN : 0520210441
Publisher : University of California Press; First edition (June 30, 1998)
Language : English
Paperback : 280 pages
ISBN-10 : 9780520210448
ISBN-13 : 978-0520210448
Item Weight : 12.8 ounces
Dimensions : 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,554,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,502 in Asian History (Books)
- #1,559 in Labor & Industrial Relations (Books)
- #1,569 in Labor & Industrial Economic Relations (Books)

Customer Reviews:
11 ratings

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Eric Bodnar

559

Paperback

$8.99
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Johan Nylander

30

Paperback

$9.99
Feedback

Melissa Feick

854

Paperback

$14.36
Feedback

Matthew Thrush

11

Paperback

$16.99
Feedback

Scott Lorenz

70

Paperback

$6.99
Feedback

Anders Olsson

167

Paperback

$19.00
Feedback

Michelle Kulp

98

Paperback

$14.97
Feedback

Johan Nylander

50

Paperback

$8.99
Feedback

Seth Barnes

371

Paperback

$10.36
Feedback

Sharon Grossman

18

Kindle Edition

$3.99

Customer reviews

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Top reviews from the United States

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Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2012

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A rather sobering look at gender politics in Japanese corporations. Really interesting, bizarre and complex. I read this after I had been already living in Japan for a number of years but wish I had read it earlier. Anyone studying gender relations or corporate practices in Japan would do well to read it. Anyone wanting to work in a Japanese office would NEED to read it.

One person found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2015

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Very interesting! Read for school.

Michael W Hansard

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2015

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Very interesting read. Gave me a new perspective on Japanese women in the office.

Subvert the dominant paradigm.

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2002

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

5 people found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Fortis Green Buyer

Excellent etnographic study of gender based occupations in 1990's Japan

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 27, 2010

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Ogasawara spent 6 months working as a temp in a Japanese bank. During that time she was able to assimilate the strategies of resistance employed by "Office Ladies" - gender segregated clerical workers. Although talented and educated these women are confined to routine clerical tasks and denied promotion. However they are able to turn their powerlessness into a tool for punishing men who treat them badly. She references Genovese's work on Southern slavery and generally advances the point that any systematic system of oppression damages both oppressors and oppressed.

MeepyMay

Used for class.

Reviewed in Japan on May 22, 2014

Verified Purchase

It has outdated principles but is very good for realizing the role of OL's in Japanese society.

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