Office lady
An office lady, often abbreviated OL (Japanese: オーエル), is a female office worker in Japan who performs generally white collar (or, some would say, pink collar) tasks such as serving tea and secretarial or clerical work. Like many unmarried Japanese, OLs often live with their parents into the adulthood years. Office ladies are usually full-time permanent staff, although the jobs they do usually have little opportunity for promotion, and there is usually the tacit expectation that they leave their jobs once they get married.
The OL phenomenon is changing as more and more Japanese women pursue higher education, especially abroad. Additionally, more businesses are being started by female entrepreneurs, who may be choosing to strike out on their own as an alternative to the traditional, conservative, male-dominated atmosphere of established businesses.
OL stock characters are frequently found in josei manga and anime, often portrayed as clever and wistful individuals bored with their jobs, overpressured by their families, and facing psychological issues, though they are usually attractive. The manga and anime series Ebichu, for example, features an office lady character, appropriately named OL, and the warrior characters Linna Yamazaki from Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 and Arisa and Kyouko from All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku have day jobs as office ladies.