Epistemic Justice for Children

Sor Juana asserted her right to be recognized as a knower and intellectual authority in a world that deemed women (and people of her racial position) incapable of serious thought. Epistemic justice—the right to be believed and recognized as a source of knowledge—is foundational to children's rights. Children are systematically denied epistemic credibility: their observations are dismissed as childish, their concerns minimized, their understanding of their own experience treated as unreliable. This denial of epistemic standing violates children's dignity and prevents them from developing confidence in their own knowing. In child protection contexts, epistemic injustice becomes dangerous when children's reports of abuse are dismissed as fabrication or confusion. Through Sor Juana's example, we must actively work to recognize children as legitimate knowers of their own experience, their own bodies, their own needs, and their own understanding of the world. Granting epistemic justice to children means taking their observations seriously, believing their testimony, and treating their developing consciousness as real and worthy of respect. This practice fundamentally changes how we listen to, protect, and empower children.