Recognition that mothers and caregiving parents possess embodied knowledge and epistemic authority about their children and choices—deserving respect and not erasure by experts.
Sor Juana, in her Response to Sor Filotea, asserted her right to interpret Scripture and knowledge against institutional authority that dismissed women's reasoning. Parents, especially mothers, face constant interrogation of their knowledge: their instincts about their child's needs, their choices about care, education, and values are routinely questioned by professionals, strangers, and ideologies that position them as ignorant. The concept of maternal knowing reclaims epistemic authority—the right to be the expert on one's own child and to trust one's judgment. This does not mean rejecting advice or support; it means recognizing that the parent who lives with the child, who knows their particularity, who attends to their growth, holds legitimate knowledge that deserves deference. Sor Juana's insistence on the legitimacy of women's reasoning becomes a framework for validating parental knowledge as a real form of authority.
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