Intersectional Oppression and Children

Sor Juana lived at the intersection of multiple marginalized positions: woman, indigenous-descended, socially dependent, intellectual in a society that feared women's minds. Intersectional oppression acknowledges that children do not experience single, isolated forms of discrimination but rather multiple oppressions that compound and interact. A girl child who is poor, disabled, and from an ethnic minority faces different barriers than a disabled boy from wealth. Children's rights frameworks must move beyond single-issue approaches to recognize these complex realities. This means disaggregating data on child welfare by multiple identities, ensuring that interventions don't help some children while harming others, and centering the voices of the most marginalized children. Sor Juana's example teaches us to name all the forces acting against children and to resist solutions that liberate some while oppressing others. Organizations serving children must examine their own practices for hidden biases that advantage some children while disadvantaging others.