Gendered Exclusion as Economic Dispossession

Sor Juana lived under laws and customs that denied women independent property ownership, access to higher education, and legitimate participation in intellectual life. Her entire project can be read as a protest against this dispossession: she claimed her right to study, to own her writings, and to participate in the knowledge economy from which women were systematically barred. In Libertarian justice, gender-based exclusion is a form of economic violence—it deprives individuals of their capacity to labor, earn, and own. Patriarchal restrictions on women's work, education, and property are not merely cultural preferences but violations of fundamental liberty and property rights. Sor Juana's life demonstrates that justice requires not only removing formal barriers but actively ensuring that all individuals, regardless of gender, can access the means of intellectual and economic production. This concept frames feminism itself as a libertarian project of restoring stolen property rights.