As we close out 2025 and celebrate a decade of A Case for Women, this year feels especially significant. We find ourselves returning to two questions: What surprised us? And what, despite everything that happened this year (because it was a lot) gave us hope?
2025 was a year when many women carried a higher vigilance: calculating safety, navigating systems not built with us in mind and advocating for ourselves and families in environments that asked us at times to prove harm before offering protection. We had to adapt and to look in the spaces between uncertainty and clarity, for something meaningful to take shape.
At the same time, 2025 also reflected something else: women’s voices refusing to be minimized, choosing again and again to speak their truth. And legal mechanisms that quietly limit access to justice like forced arbitration and confidentiality were challenged.
Proving once again that civil lawsuits remain one of our most effective tools, targeting not just individuals but the systems that enable harm.
What Surprised Us About Online Gaming Marketed to Children
Who would have thought that Roblox, which many parents saw as harmless, would be tied to serious (and we’re talking extremely serious) safety concerns for kids? This year, we heard from over 9,000 families who shared stories of sexual abuse, exploitation, and even kidnapping. Listening to these stories was both humbling and shocking.
“She ran away to meet the abuser, but I found her before the meeting occurred. She said she was going to Texas on foot. We live in North Carolina.”
“He started off nice and then started telling my son he should run away. He packed his bag and got on a bus but didn’t know how to get there so he called me. ”
This was new territory for us, and we’re so proud to be among the first to connect families to legal representation. The Roblox Sexual Abuse Lawsuit has led to real changes in safety standards. In response, Roblox put in stricter rules, better moderation, age checks, and chat limits. There’s still more to do, but this is a big step forward. It shows that keeping children safe isn’t just up to parents—the platform must also take responsibility.
What Surprised Us About Uber (And Rideshare in General)
Not every problem has a simple answer. Uber Sexual Assault Lawsuits have been going on since 2019. We found ourselves asking, “Can you believe this is still happening?” Sadly, the answer is yes—women are still being assaulted, and survivors are still coming forward.
The silver lining? Our actions do matter. The new safety features Uber introduced don’t solve everything, but they’re concrete steps driven by litigation and advocacy. Growing awareness and legal action have led to the first public safety reports, bringing these issues into public discussion like the investigative reporting from The New York Times revealing what survivors have been screaming into the void for years.
“Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022, sealed court records show, a level far more pervasive than what the company has disclosed.” – Emily Steel, NYTimes
What Gives Us Hope
As we celebrate 10 years of A Case for Women, we carry forward the voices of the women and families who have spoken up, and the energy of a growing national conversation to hold companies and institutions accountable.
This year reminded us that real change doesn’t happen on its own. It takes collective action. It takes people willing to name harm, advocates willing to listen and systems willing, sometimes reluctantly, to respond. Progress is built through connection, persistence, and shared commitment. This is what gives us hope.
As we look ahead to 2026 we do so with renewed purpose and deep gratitude–for the trust placed in us, for the partnerships that make this work possible, and for the momentum that continues to grow. We are entering the next year grounded in what we’ve learned, energized by what’s possible and committed to carrying this work forward together.
Here’s to 2026.
