Zheng Named Promoter of Gender Equality

¡¡¡¡BEIJING, China - China's two-time Grand Slam doubles champion Zheng Jie has been named a "Promoter of Gender Equality" in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's partnership with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. In this role she joins fellow Tour stars Venus Williams and Tatiana Golovin, who were previously named as Promoters of Gender Equality for the program in November 2006 and May 2007, respectively.

¡¡¡¡Zheng, a winner of three singles and 10 doubles titles on the Tour, has already established herself as a role model for women and girls in China and throughout the world. The 24-year-old from Cheng Du, alongside Yan Zi, wrote a piece of tennis history in 2006 by becoming China's first Slam winners, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon doubles crowns.

¡¡¡¡In her new role as a promoter of gender equality, Zheng will raise awareness of gender equality issues at both a national and global level, and will have a direct involvement in women's leadership programs to be developed in China and internationally through the UNESCO-Sony Ericsson WTA Tour partnership.

¡¡¡¡"I am truly honored to be serving as a Promoter of Gender Equality, especially being the first one from China," Zheng said. "I take the job as a role model very seriously, and I am looking forward to helping young girls and women in my country and around the world to gain better opportunities to succeed in whatever they wish to do. Not only through my efforts as a tennis player, but also because of my passion for women's rights, I hope I can make a difference on this very important issue."

¡¡¡¡"I am very happy to announce today that Ms. Zheng Jie is being designated as the third UNESCO Promoter of Gender Equality within the framework of the UNESCO-Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Partnership for Gender Equality, joining Ms. Venus Williams and Ms. Tatiana Golovin," said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura. "These accomplished young women serve as leaders and role models for women and girls around the world, sending a singularly important message: gender equality is not an outdated, impossible dream, but a goal that can and must be realized in order for us to achieve peace and sustainable development."

¡¡¡¡Zhang Xinsheng, Chairman, Executive Board of UNESCO stated: "The goals and aspirations of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, signed here over a decade ago, are still to be realized. It is my own hope that this ambitious partnership between UNESCO and the Tour will bring us closer to achieving them. The efforts of Zheng Jie, along with Venus Williams and Tatiana Golovin - who are excellent role models for millions of girls and young women throughout the world - will be key factors in the successful implementation of this timely and innovative public-private partnership."

¡¡¡¡"The role of women in society is gradually improving, but there is certainly a lot more work to be done," said David Shoemaker, COO & General Counsel of the Tour. "Through our partnership with UNESCO, we seek to show the world women should be treated the same as men and to create real leadership opportunities for women and girls. We look forward to Zheng Jie helping in this goal."

¡¡¡¡The UNESCO-Tour partnership draws upon the history of the Tour and players in fighting for equality, and marks a new level of commitment by the Tour and players to raise awareness of gender equality issues and advance opportunities for women. The program also represents the first time that UNESCO, the only organization of the UN system with a mandate for education, science, culture and communication/information which are most critical for laying the grounds for gender equality, and which in turn benefit from gender equality, is partnering with a professional sports league for this objective embraced by all world leaders.

¡¡¡¡Key planned elements of the program include (i) a Tour/UNESCO Fund for women and leadership, which will be endowed initially with approximately €200,000 as seed funding with the goal of reaching a much higher figure through planned additional fundraising activities, (ii) a "Promoter of Gender Equality" player program, which will involve players at both a global and national level in awareness raising activities as well as direct involvement in specific gender equality and women's leadership programs throughout the world, (iii) mentoring, scholarship and fellowship programs designed to create opportunities and the environment for women and girls to succeed in all walks of life and (iv) usage of existing UNESCO and Tour tournaments, galas and conferences as awareness and fundraising platforms. Additionally, the Sony Ericsson Championships promoters and the city of Madrid will support the program through marketing, awareness and fundraising activities. Advertising utilizing players to raise awareness of gender equality issues is also in development.

¡¡¡¡UNESCO, with a Section specifically devoted to the promotion of women's empowerment and gender equality (www.unesco.org/women) actively supports women's rights, women's empowerment and gender equality as a global priority in its five fields of competence: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture and communication/information. UNESCO promotes the empowerment of women, women's rights and gender equality as an overall objective in its five fields of competence: education, natural and human sciences culture and communication/information. In particular, UNESCO seeks to integrate a gender equality perspective into all stages of its programme cycle from conceptualization to implementation and evaluation as well as to promote greater participation of women at all levels and in all areas of UNESCO's action.

¡¡¡¡The ultimate goal of these efforts is to strengthen the Organization's ability to create the conditions for women and men alike, from all walks of life, to enjoy human development and peace on an equal basis. In this endeavor, UNESCO has a wide range of initiatives in all its domains as well as special partnership programmes with the private sector, such as the L'Oreal-UNESCO "For Women in Science" programme (www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/index.aspx), and the Mondialogo Partnership with Daimler Chrysler which promotes intercultural talks among schools and students through concrete projects (www.mondialogo.org).

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