V-Day 2011

Help end violence towards women.

What is the V Day Campaign?

The V Day campaign is a global movement dedicated to raising awareness of violence towards women. The campaign also aims to raise money for charities that deal with the consequences of rape, domestic violence, FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), sexual slavery and incest.

V Day events take place in countries all around the world on February 14th specifically, and also during V season from February 1st–April 30th. Such events include showings of Eva Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and other performances.

 

The annual V day campaign started when The Vagina Monologues began to enjoy success and was showing on Broadway and in theatres around the world. Eva Ensler stated that she felt moved to do something because after every show women would come up to her and share their personal stories of violence committed against them. She felt that some good had to come out of the play, rather than just being a form of culture or entertainment. So V Day began in 1998.

 

Why it matters?

According to the latest figures from the UN, 1 in 3 women around the world will be physically or sexually assaulted into heir lifetimes. This is a massive number.

The V day organisation works around the world to try and halt the cycle of violent. It helps fund documentaries, gives briefings and talks on missing women in Mexico and goes on delegation missions to countries such as Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine and Egypt. V Day also does a lot of work in Africa and the Middle East, working with anti violence networks.  In fact, V Day funding helped open the first shelters for women fleeing domestic violence in countries such as Egypt and Iraq. The organisation also gives scholarships to women fighting for the cause.

At last official tally, the V day organisation has raised $75 million.

The V in the name stands for Valentine, Vagina and Victory.