V-Day: Ending Violence Against Girls and Women Worldwide

V-Day is a non-profit organization and global activist movement to end violence against women and girls. Envisioning a world where women and girls are free to thrive and not merely survive, V-Day promotes creative events to raise awareness and money for issues such as rape, incest, battery, female genital mutilation, and sex slavery.

V-Day was founded on Valentine's Day, 1998 by playwright and activist Eve Ensler, who wrote The Vagina Monologues. The popular play, which addressed women's sexuality and the social stigma surrounding rape and abuse, ran Off-Broadway in New York for five years before touring the United States. After every performance, Ensler found women waiting to share their own stories of survival, and she realized that The Vagina Monologues could be more than a moving work of art.



Each year, thousands of V-Day benefit events are produced by activists worldwide, educating millions about the reality of violence against women and girls. Through V-Day campaigns, volunteers and college students produce annual benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues, as well as documentary film screenings, workshops, and more to increase awareness and funds for anti-violence groups in their local communities.

In addition, V-Day stages large-scale benefits and produces campaigns, films, and gatherings to change social attitudes towards violence against women and girls. Projects include the documentary Until the Violence Stops; the Afghan Women's Summit; community briefings on missing and murdered women in Juarez, Mexico; the Indian Country Project; the V-Girls Campaign; and the V-Men Campaign. In Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, V-Day commits ongoing support to build anti-violence networks and movements. V-Day has helped establish the first women's shelters in Egypt and Iraq and sponsored annual workshops and national campaigns in Afghanistan, among others.

A top-rated organization on Charity Navigator and Guidestar, V-Day has also been named one of Worth's “100 Best Charities” and one of Marie Claire's “Top 10 Charities.”