2007 marks the 10th anniversary of V-Day, the global movement to stop violence against women and girls created by Eve Ensler, the innovative genius behind The Vagina Monologues. The “V” stands for Victory, Valentine and, of course, Vagina.

The movement seeks to revitalize already existing anti-violence organizations and bring increased attention to the issues of rape, incest, battery, female genital mutilation and sexual slavery.

V-day hosts benefits, produces films, holds community meetings and creates anti-violence networks in an effort to change social attitudes toward women and increase awareness of their quality of life around the world. In Egypt and Israel V-Day funding opened the first women’s shelters; in Afghanistan they donated satellite phones to women’s networks to keep lines of communication open and anti-violence developments moving forward; and they host workshops and national campaigns in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. In the United States volunteers and college students put on annual benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues with all proceeds going to women’s rights groups. In 2006 alone V-Day hosted over 2,700 benefit events around the world.

Every year they focus on a particular group of women in the world experiencing violence with the aim of bringing a national spotlight to the area and increasing awareness of the problem, as well as funding for groups trying to help. One such spotlight was shown on Juarez, Mexico, which is just over the border from El Paso, Texas.

Hundreds of women, many of them factory workers for foreign-owned companies or students, have been found dead or reported missing in the city over the last fourteen years. Many refer to the tragedy as a “femicide.”

According to Amnesty International, nearly 400 of these women and girls—some as young as six—have been brutally killed, while many others are still missing. Most have been killed on their way to or from work or school. Human rights groups report that they are usually sexually abused before being murdered.

V-Day in Juarez turned into a gathering of thousands, many from across the border in Texas, marching through the city and then meeting for lunch and a bilingual performance of The Vagina Monologues, the first it had ever been performed in the city. A V-Day delegation of influential women—ranging from California Congresswoman Hilda Solis to Jane Fonda—met with families in Juarez and then participated in events at the American Consulate.

Less than a month after the V-Day events and activities, the State Attorney responsible for the Juarez area, including the investigation of fourteen-year-long femicide, resigned.