Distinguished McMaster engineering professor is honoured with YWCA Women of Distinction Award

McMaster engineering professor Kim Jones Women of Distinction Award for impact made on underrepresented communities

The Young Women's Christian Association is a non-profit organization that is working towards ending gender-based violence in communities and households, providing economic support and housing to women with financial barriers, and creating communities where there is equity for all women.

Over the years they have funded many specialized programs, services and opportunities for women, children, 2SLGBTQIA+ people and people with disabilities. These programs include the Transitional Living Program which offers housing support, a community building program for 2SLGBTQIA+ youth called speqtrum, and the Imagine Day Program which offers services to adults and seniors with developmental disabilities.

The annual YWCA Women of Distinction awards is a night to acknowledge women within Hamilton and Halton, while continuing to raise both awareness and funding for the YWCA and their mission. Many women from McMaster University, both students and staff, were nominated and won awards that night, including Dr. Ada Tang, Sashaina Singh, and Ahona Medhi.

One of this year's winners is Kim Jones, a professor of chemical engineering and the current chair of the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering, a network that connects multiple faculties and schools of engineering across Ontario.

Regarding the YWCA Women of Distinction awards Jones said, “I am deeply grateful to the YWCA for . . . recognizing women who are doing amazing things in our community, because it often is unrecognized work. It is often work that people do out of passion but doesn’t get much recognition.”

She went on to state that “all of the nominees are incredible contributors to our community” and that they all deserved to win awards.

Jones' work shows her passion for women’s rights and over the years has fought for a place for women and other underrepresented communities within engineering. "I say that I've been a feminist since birth. I was brought up by a feminist engineer father, and a mother . . . who had a master's degree in computer science from the 60s. So I had pretty spectacular role models . . . people who cared about making change and thought that everyone deserved the same opportunities to succeed," explained Jones, a partial reason why she is so passionate about her work.

She has been very vocal about the importance of representation for these groups. “It makes for a very different space for students. Because when you look around, and you can see other people who are like yourself, then you can imagine yourself succeeding and thriving in that space, you can find supportive friends,” said Jones.

Jones has been the chair for ONWiE since 2018 and will continue into her second term until next year. ONWiE has started many flagship programs. "All are hands on workshops for girls and non binary youth grades seven to ten where they get to see how engineering, coding, and physics principles can be applied in their real life and in their future careers. They get to meet near peer role models as students who are in those programs and do those things in safe spaces where they're free to experiment and fail and succeed," said Jones.

ONWiE's Girl Guide Badge program is a mix of virtual and in person, and Jones shared that it has reached somewhere between 16,000 to 18,000 girls across Ontario.

At ONWiE's yearly summit, members discuss what the future for girls in engineering looks like, and actions that can be taken to make engineering more inclusive for everybody. On this Jones said, “How do we build inclusive spaces for people to come into, because there's no point recruiting for diversity if you're not providing positive experiences for the people who come into those spaces.”

Jones teaches many engineering courses here at McMaster, but she inputs her thoughts on inclusivity in a class she is proud to have created at McMaster: an inclusion in engineering class (ENGINEER 2IW3). The course explores the general question of, in Jones' words, “What are the some of the structural barriers, but also opportunities that people have that vary based on their identity?”

Although engineering overall is an extremely male-dominated space, McMaster is already ahead of the game. Jones talked about the major increase of female students in the engineering first-year class.

"In 2017 it was 24 per cent women . . . and this year it's 43 per cent women," Jones said.

Not only does Jones want inclusivity for her own students, she wants inclusivity for all students, and all staff members. “How do we support and ensure that our alumni are . . . having positive experiences, so in their work lives they can continue to make the changes that they need to make the world better, based on the education they got at McMaster," Jones said.

Jones is someone who has already left, and will continue to leave, a long-lasting legacy at McMaster, for the genuine and impactful change she has been able to implicate into students and faculty members everyday real lives.