#1 : An Ethical Situation

I was client facing the whole summer minus 5 days that I spent in the Accenture office. Being client facing is one of the main things I enjoyed, but I also really liked the culture of my client. It was kind and collaborative, safety was woven into everything they did, and the men always let me enter the elevator first. I enjoy the manners of the south and that the men let me go into the elevator first but there was one instance where I felt my age and gender affected the way people treated me. One day one of the traders on my floor asked me to turn around while he made a funny joke to another trader. The trader that asked me to turn around was one of my favorite client team members so I really didn't think twice about the instance. As I turned around though my second thought was why do I have to turn around? I am the intern, maybe they are paternal towards me but still I am a co-worker. My third thought actually was well I guess I have my ethical situation reflection for this summer.

The gesture from my co-worker was in no way ill willed, but it made me sense that there was something different about me than he saw in everyone else who was there. I felt excluded from the group in a way that I couldn't be included in the jokes so was my work included in the team. It also made me aware of how many women were actually on my project. It was maybe 30% of our team on an energy industry client. Before this instance I hadn't realized our project was swayed one way. I had however noticed that the client was not diverse. The studies that show how important diversity of thought in the work place is made me think about my client and perhaps the need for so many contractors in their organization. There are many contractors that I meet in various spaces of the organization and so I thought maybe there was a correlation between the lack of diversity and the number of outside contractors brought in. With that in my head I saw a very real part of the corporate world that Accenture fights against through a new inclusion initiative.

I now know that every client has a culture and while I loved working with my clients most of the time, there is still a discrepancy of women compared to men in the resources industry. As I prepare to start a career in Houston, I am fully aware that I will most likely be working with clients in the energy industry and that the gender difference will be present. I am not worried about this fact though. I think I can do good work no matter who I do it with. I enjoy learning new things and being challenged in uncomfortable places. I also know that being a women in energy right out of college is not a draw back and that my work shows my values and work ethic not my gender. This situation will continue to allow me to grow in my awareness of other people's inclusion in team settings and know that if someone does not feel welcome as a person they will not feel welcome as a professional.

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