Identity and Access: Who Gets to Participate

Sor Juana's marginalization as a woman, a creole, and an intellectual outside formal power structures prevented her from holding positions where she could directly shape institutions—yet also gave her critical distance to see their failures. Corruption is facilitated when power is concentrated among narrow groups with similar backgrounds and interests, when oversight bodies lack diversity, and when whole communities are excluded from participation in decision-making. Diverse governing bodies and oversight teams are more likely to catch corruption because they bring different experiences, values, and relationships. Excluding women, minorities, and marginalized groups from leadership, law enforcement, judiciaries, and auditing functions removes perspectives that might question questionable practices and normalizes cultures where those in power see their interests as universal. Fighting corruption requires intentionally broadening who has voice and authority in institutions: increasing women's representation in leadership and oversight, recruiting from outside traditional elite networks, protecting minority and marginalized communities' rights to participate in decisions affecting them, and ensuring diverse juries and review bodies. Sor Juana's own insights came partly from her outsider position; systematic inclusion of outsiders strengthens institutional immunity to corruption.