Epistemic Justice for Children's Knowledge

Epistemic justice means treating people as knowers rather than dismissing their testimony or insights because of who they are. Sor Juana challenged a system that denied women's intellectual credibility; applied to children's rights, this concept insists that children's accounts of abuse, injustice, or suffering deserve to be heard and believed. Children witness their own lives; they understand their own suffering and needs. Yet justice systems routinely discredit children's testimony, education systems ignore children's questions, and families dismiss children's perspectives. This creates epistemic injustice—the silencing of legitimate knowledge. Sor Juana's work teaches that credibility and voice are political; granting or denying them is an act of power. For children's rights, epistemic justice means: believing children when they report harm; involving them in decisions about their care; valuing their perspective on what they need; teaching them to recognize and articulate their own experience. It transforms adults from sole authorities into supporters of children's own knowledge-making. This framework protects children and honors their emerging capacity to understand and speak their own truth.