V-Day Justice for Domestic Workers, a special performance of "The Vagina Monologues"
03/19/2012
On March 18th, thirty-five members of Justice For Domestic Workers (JD4W) performed in a special community V-Day benefit production of The Vagina Monologues. V-Day activist and organizer Monique Wilson directed the show, and ran a series of five weekly full day Sunday V-Day workshops in preparation for the performance.
The workshops consisted of theatre games and exercises to build confidence and communication skills, then lead into creative empowerment sessions where women were encouraged to share their personal stories from their individual cultures and experiences with their employers, and engage in discussions where they could envision a world with no violence in which the women could see themselves as leaders in their communities. The theatre workshops formed the basis of the workshops to begin with, as English is not the first language for most of the domestic workers. Five weeks later they were now ready to perform The Vagina Monologues.
"For most not being able to read in English - to now doing the play - is amazing and incredible. Doing V-Day is empowering them so profoundly. I don't have enough words to describe their journey, and our journey with them. It is so emotional, and so life-changing." Monique Wilson
V-Day Justice for Domestic Workers, a special performance of The Vagina Monologues was performed on March 18th, 3 - 5pm at the Faraday House (Syracuse University London Programme), 48 - 51 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AE. It is supported by UNITE, the biggest labor union in the UK.
JD4W is an organization of domestic workers who work in private houses in the UK as nannies, cooks and maids, most of whom have had to escape abusive employers. The migrant domestic workers are women from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Nigeria, Morocco, Brazil, India and Pakistan. Community organizing is central to what the organization does, and it is run for and by domestic workers. They believe that to secure their rights they must educate and mobilize themselves and build links to those who can support them. For more information visit www.j4dw.org or email: [email protected]