In the wake of recent global conversations about gender-based violence and the persistent invisibility of certain victims, two parallel stories have emerged that underscore both progress and persistent gaps in the fight for gender justice. On one hand, international campaigns led by figures like Urvashi Mitra at UN Women are driving legislative and cultural change across continents. On the other, the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the United States reveals profound failures in protection, visibility, and justice for some of the most vulnerable populations.
Urvashi Mitra, a communications specialist at UN Women, has become a central figure in advancing global gender equality initiatives. Her leadership in strategic campaigns, particularly under the Spotlight Initiative—a €500 million partnership between the European Union and the United Nations launched in 2017—has yielded tangible results. According to a November 2025 report from UN Women, by 2024, the Spotlight Initiative had prevented violence against an estimated 21 million women and girls and enacted over 540 protective laws across 60 countries. The initiative’s reach is broad, supporting legal reforms from Latin America to Asia and mobilizing communities through survivor-centered services.
Yet, as the same UN report warns, these gains remain fragile. Crises such as armed conflict and climate change threaten to reverse hard-won progress. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed highlighted at a recent briefing, “Women and girls are facing interconnected crises from gender-based violence to poverty and exclusion that demand urgent, collective response.” Mitra’s work has responded to these warnings with strategic communications that bridge policy, grassroots activism, and public awareness, ensuring that the stories of marginalized women are not lost in the noise of global crises.
Mitra’s approach is deeply intersectional, drawing attention to the unique challenges faced by indigenous women, those in conflict-affected areas, and other marginalized groups. She crafts compelling narratives that translate complex data into relatable stories, making the case for empathy-driven action. Her background includes collaborations with UNICEF, the World Bank, and the Population Council, experiences that have honed her ability to turn statistics into stories that spark change. Representatives from partner organizations have praised her ability to “convert figures into compelling pleas for compassion,” a skill exemplified by the Spotlight Initiative’s outreach to hundreds of millions in the fight against discrimination.
But while global campaigns make headlines, the lived realities of many women remain unchanged. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the United States, where the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls continues to unfold with little public attention. According to federal and tribal data cited by the Los Angeles Times on November 28, 2025, approximately 5,700 Native American girls are reported missing annually. Shockingly, 40 percent of sex trafficking victims in the U.S. are identified as American Indian and Alaska Native women, even though Indigenous people represent just 2.9 percent of the population. Nearly three-quarters of Native American females who went missing in 2023 were children.
The roots of this crisis are tangled in a history of systemic abuse, poverty, and bureaucratic confusion. For decades, tribal authorities lacked the power to prosecute non-Native offenders on reservations, and overlapping jurisdictions between tribal police, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, county sheriffs, and the FBI created a “Bermuda Triangle” of responsibility. Eugenia Charles-Newton, chair of the law and order committee of the Navajo Nation, recounted her own harrowing experience: “Because I didn’t know where I was being kept—where the shed was located—they could never identify the jurisdiction. And the man—who I knew—… I said his name—they never prosecuted him.”
In recent years, legislative reforms have attempted to address these gaps. The Not Invisible Act of 2019, signed into law in 2020, established a commission focused on missing and murdered Indigenous persons and human trafficking. Savanna’s Act, also passed in 2020, aimed to standardize protocols and improve data collection. Additionally, grants totaling over $86 million from the Violence Against Women Act were distributed in 2024 to support survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking, and trafficking. However, as Los Angeles Times reports, the impact has been limited: the number of missing Native women has remained stubbornly flat, from about 5,700 in 2016 to 5,800 in 2023.
Why does this crisis persist? Media coverage plays a critical role. The phenomenon known as “missing white woman syndrome” describes how cases involving young, white female victims receive disproportionate attention, while Indigenous women are often rendered invisible in the national narrative. As the Los Angeles Times commentary notes, “Native American women are, tragically, still treated by many as disposable characters in the long national narrative.” Predators, the piece argues, target those they believe will not be searched for or avenged—an indictment of both public empathy and institutional will.
Debate continues over the true scale of the crisis. Some law enforcement agencies, such as the Salt Lake City Police Department, have challenged research findings, arguing that victim counts are overstated. Data collection is complicated by the frequent misidentification of Indigenous women as Hispanic or “other” on official forms. Nonetheless, advocates maintain that the crisis is real and urgent, pointing to new initiatives in states like Oregon, Wisconsin, and Arizona, and federal efforts such as the Department of the Interior’s Missing and Murdered Unit, established in 2021 to solve cold cases.
These stories—of global campaigns and local crises—are not isolated. They are linked by the common thread of vulnerability, visibility, and the struggle for justice. Mitra’s work at UN Women, with its emphasis on intersectionality and survivor-centered advocacy, echoes the calls from Indigenous communities for recognition and action. Both narratives underscore the need for sustained funding, political will, and cultural change. The November 2025 UN report warns of backsliding, noting that 110 million more women have fallen into poverty since 2019, a sobering reminder of the fragility of progress.
Despite challenges, there are glimmers of hope. The Spotlight Initiative’s success in increasing reports of gender-based violence by 30 percent in pilot areas demonstrates that strategic communication and community engagement can shift norms. In India, policy targets for female workforce participation, supported by Mitra’s advocacy, align with global efforts to boost women’s economic and political inclusion. At the same time, the growing visibility of the MMIP crisis—however incremental—suggests that the tides of public awareness may yet turn.
Ultimately, the fight for gender justice is a marathon, not a sprint. It demands the persistence of leaders like Urvashi Mitra, the courage of survivors like Eugenia Charles-Newton, and the attention of a public willing to look beyond the headlines. Progress may be fragile, but the voices calling for change are growing louder—and they will not be silenced.
