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Abstract:
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This thesis is a qualitative examination of the experiences of women who participated in two V-Day initiatives. V-Day is a global organization that stages local initiatives aimed at organizing community members to raise money and awareness to fight violence against women in their communities. Half of the women participated in a college campaign in Northern California in 2007, while the other half participated in a community campaign in the same Northern California community in 2008. A total of twelve respondents participated in hour long, qualitative interviews where they were asked to describe their experiences working in the organization. The women’s stories serve to illustrate and illuminate an analysis of the methods that the V-Day organization uses to successfully organize communities and the role of gender and emotions in V-Day organizing. Also discussed are a variety of concepts stemming from the two main themes that arose from the interviews. First, the concept of empowerment is discussed with consideration of the impact of the participants’ involvement in V-Day on their self-perceptions, as well as their motivation to pursue further activism. Secondly, the concept of solidarity is discussed, with consideration of how V-Day organizing encourages a shared sense of womanhood and contributes to the development of new social networks in the communities that stage V-Day initiatives. |
