V-Day Annual Report 2017 - RISE FOR WOMEN WORKERS 1 | Page 4

ABOUT V-DAY NINETEEN YEARS AGO, THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES GAVE BIRTH TO A GLOBAL ACTIVIST MOVEMENT TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS. V-Day activists across the planet have worked tirelessly at a grassroots level to demand an end to this violence. In the face of resistance, and at the intersection of art and activism, they have come together around productions of The Vagina Monologues and other works curated by V-Day. These activists have saved lives, raised consciousness, changed laws to protect women and girls, funded rape crisis centers and kept domestic violence shelters from closing, educated their communities, and raised over an astounding $100 million in urgently needed funds for groups doing the essential work of ending violence and serving survivors and their families. In the arena of non-profits and social justice organizations, V-Day’s impact has been unprecedented and pathmaking. City of Joy & V-World Farm continue to thrive; the dedicated staff and the surrounding community are flourishing, producing bountiful quantities of fish, vegetables, and rice. As this report was written, over 854 women have graduated and a new class is underway. Women graduates are leaders of their communities. Through One Billion Rising, activists worldwide have mobilised, engaged, awakened and joined people worldwide to the end violence against women. We have made violence against women a global human issue not relegated to country or tribe or class or religion. We revealed it as a patriarchal mandate, present in every culture of the world. Our Rise For Revolution campaign made visible, volatile and impacting connections between violence against women and economic, environmental, racial, gender injustice. In 2017, we escalated our call for Revolution and deepened our call for solidarity.