V-Day’s 2005 season was the movement’s largest awareness and fundraising year to date, with over 2500 V-Day benefit productions of “The Vagina Monologues” in 1116 colleges and communities around the world, raising approximately $4 million for local organizations working to stop violence against women and girls.

V-Day’s 2005 theme “Vagina Warriors Lead The Way” honored and celebrated the work of countless Vagina Warriors who are working to end violence against women and girls. Communities and colleges recognized the achievements of these women and men, who are making a difference and leading the way to a world without violence.

In February and March, via thousands of V-Day benefits, the V-Day 2005 Spotlight: “Women of Iraq, Under Siege,” placed the current condition of women in Iraq in front of millions in the United States, and around the globe. Since the US occupation and regime change in Iraq, women have lost more freedom than they've gained. Incidents of rape and abduction by organized gangs have increased. The fear of sexual violence has deterred women from returning to work or seeking employment, and has discouraged families from sending their daughters to school. Girls’ enrollment and attendance at school is on a steep decline across the country and victims of sexual assault refrain from contacting the police or hospitals, for fear of being killed for bringing shame on family honor. Armed conservative religious groups are pressuring schools and workplaces to require women and girls to wear the veil under threat of acid attack or abduction. Lack of jobs and security for women in general has forced some to resort to prostitution, at the grave risk of honor killing.

Even under these conditions there are beacons of change and hope. Several Iraqi women’s organizations, such as The Operation for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), are braving the hostile climate and death threats to demand women’s representation in public bodies and are working to protect women on the ground. With V-Day’s support, OWFI are working on the first satellite TV station for women in Iraq.
V-Day 2005 launched new projects and expanded on signature programs. Key 2005 highlights included the release of V-Day’s first book, Vagina Warriors, a collaboration between V-Day Founder/Artistic Director Eve Ensler, and world-renowned photographer Joyce Tennyson; the DVD release of V-Day’s Emmy award-winning documentary Until the Violence Stops; the first V-Day production on an all men’s college campus; the first V-Day Europe, held in Belgium and featuring two days of workshops and discussions that culminated in “Jour V,” a star studded production of The Vagina Monologues at The Flagey, Brussels; the 2005 V-Tour which brought Eve Ensler and V-Day Executive Director Jerry Lynn Fields to V-Day productions in Ireland, Iceland and to college campuses across the US. V-Day 2005 benefit events were held in diverse communities and countries including Australia, Belgium, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Ethiopia, a women’s prison in El Salvador and all 50 states in the United States.

In 2005, V-Day continued its initiatives in Africa, Asia and the Middle East by launching the Karama Program, envisioned by V-Day Special Representative and Karama Chair, Hibaaq Osman, in Cairo, Egypt. “Karama,” the Arabic word for dignity, is a unique partnership with nine countries of the Middle East and North Africa: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Sudan. Through women's organizations and inter-regional agencies such as the Arab League and the African Union, Karama will bring together women, men, governments, activists and artists to examine the impact of violence on women's health, education, and economics, and to create and encourage campaigns at the national, regional, and international levels to end violence against women, tailored to the cultural realities of the target country. Headquartered in Cairo, Karama will work closely with organizations working in different sectors, and on different issues in each society, such as education, health, religion, art, economics, and policy.

V-Day staff including Eve Ensler and Jerri Lynn Fields attended the launch of the Karama Program and other activities in Cairo, including the opening of Bayat Hawa, Egypt's first safe house for women and children suffering from domestic violence. Bayat Hawa aims to break the cycle of violence by creating a no-tolerance approach to domestic violence and by providing women with a safe, secure and confidential alternative to staying in an abusive relationship. Created by the Association for the Development & Enhancement of Women (ADEW), the program will offer comprehensive services strategically designed to help its residents deal with the trauma and effects of abuse.

In February 2005, Eve Ensler and V-Day Special Representative Hibaaq Osman announced that the focus of the V-Day 2006 Spotlight will be the “Global V-Day Campaign for Justice to ‘Comfort Women.’” They launched the new campaign with representatives from women’s groups from East and South East Asia, local and international activists, and participants of the Beijing +10 UN Women’s Conference at the Millennium UN Hotel in New York City.

Throughout the V-Day 2005 events and campaigns, Vagina Warriors were recognized and celebrated for outstanding work in leading the way to a world without violence. In 2006, we urge you to join V-Day as we celebrate “Vagina Warriors: The New Revolution.”