How do I understand my role in global systems of inequality and what can actually change?

Sor Juana lived inside systems designed to limit her—by gender, by power, by who was allowed to think. She didn't pretend those systems didn't exist by working harder within them. She studied them. She asked uncomfortable questions about why they were structured that way. That's where to start with global inequality. Stop asking, "Am I a good person?" Start asking, "What systems am I inside? How do they work? Who benefits? Who pays?" You're inside many: your phone contains minerals mined by people with almost no power. Your food travels through chains you can't see. Your money moves through institutions with investments you don't choose. Your citizenship gives you access denied to others. This isn't meant to paralyze you with shame—it's meant to wake you up to where your actual leverage is. Your role isn't to opt out of systems (you can't, fully). It's to become consciously complicit rather than unconsciously complicit. That means: Learn where the pressure points actually are. Not just what you buy, but what you *influence*: your workplace, your institution, your vote, your community, your voice. Connect with people already doing this work. Movements change systems—individuals alone don't. Accept that understanding global inequality is lifelong work, not a problem to solve once. Stay curious. Stay honest about your own contradictions. That's how real responsibility begins.