Intersectional Poverty: Gender, Class, and Caste

Sor Juana navigated multiple overlapping systems of oppression: gender restrictions, colonial subjugation, and economic dependence within the Church. Her example illuminates intersectional poverty—how class disadvantage combines with other identity factors to intensify exclusion. A poor woman faces different constraints than a poor man; intersections of race, disability, and poverty multiply barriers. Sor Juana's strategy involved directly addressing how her gender, creole status, and intellectual aspirations created unique obstacles, while refusing singular categorization. For modern contexts, this concept demands analyzing how poverty doesn't affect communities uniformly; understanding specific intersectional vulnerabilities is essential. Practically, this means tailoring support and advocacy to recognize overlapping disadvantages, amplifying voices of those with multiple marginalized identities, and designing solutions that address compound barriers rather than poverty in isolation. Sor Juana's tradition teaches that intellectual resistance must acknowledge these intersections explicitly, refusing to flatten complex identities into simplistic poverty narratives.