The change in gender roles since the enactment of Title IX
is the focus of a free lecture at the
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Assistant Professor Helena Alden of the Sociology
Department will talk about “Competitive Athletics and Changing Gender Roles” at
7 p.m. Tuesday, November 19, as part of the year-long “Access to Opportunity”
lecture series at UW-Stevens Point. Held in the Laird Room at the Dreyfus
University Center on campus, the lecture is open to the public.
The series marks UW-Stevens Point’s hosting of the NCAA
Division III Women’s Basketball Final Four in March 2014, and centers on the
access to opportunity Title IX gave young women playing scholastic sports.
Alden will discuss Title IX’s effects for women, starting with
high school and collegiate sports. For instance, high school girls’ athletic
participation in 1972 was only 1 in 27, and by 2011 it had grown to nearly 1 in 3. An even wider ripple effect resulted, she said.
“Title IX had made a difference in college attendance for women
and even in the job market,” said Alden. “Its effects are far reaching.”
Alden has taught at UW-Stevens Point since 2007 and has won
an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Sociology Department. She is a member
of the American Sociological Association, Society for the Study of Social
Problems, National Women’s Studies Association and the Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha
Kappa Delta and Phi Eta Sigma honor societies.