Office lady

An office lady, often abbreviated OL, is a female office worker in Japan who performs generally pink collar tasks such as serving tea and secretarial or clerical work. Office ladies are usually full-time permanent staff, although the jobs they perform usually have little opportunity for promotion, and there is usually the expectation that they leave their jobs once they get married.

Often nicknamed shokuba no hana or "office flower", office ladies are usually hired right after high school or junior high, with university graduates discouraged from pursuing this type of career. They are kept around the office for the youth they bring to it, hence the "flower" nickname. They are charged with routine, menial tasks meant to support the male workers. This type of career offers very little chance of advancement and was specifically designed so that women would leave for marriage before their thirties. Women between the ages of twenty four and twenty eight often are advised to settle down as a subtle message to quit, as those years are considered the most suitable for marriage.

Due to some Japanese pop culture influence in China mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the term is also in common usage there. However, the meaning of the word is slightly different. In China, the word represents the white-collar women (usually highly educated, high-pressure, high-income, smartly dressed), the combination of beauty and wisdom.

The rise in OLs began after World War II, as offices expanded. They were first known as "BGs" (for Business Girls), but it was later found that English-speakers used a similar acronym, B-girls, to refer to "bargirls". Josei Jishin, a women's magazine, ran a competition to find a better name for the business girls. OL was chosen in 1963 from the entries.

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