The Right to Refuse Unwanted Work and Vocation

Sor Juana's eventual renunciation of intellectual work under Church pressure represents a profound loss of freedom, despite her remaining housed and fed. Libertarian justice recognizes that control over one's own labor is fundamental to freedom and dignity. A situation in which someone is fed, clothed, and sheltered while forced to work against their will and ability is not freedom—it is a sophisticated form of servitude. The Church could not starve Sor Juana, but it could make her intellectual life impossible, constraining her to domestic and devotional labor. This concept protects freedom by establishing that the right to refuse unwanted work is not conditional on self-sufficiency: even those dependent on institutions retain the right to object to compelled labor. Modern applications include workers trapped in situations where survival depends on accepting conditions they reject, students forced into predetermined paths, and caregivers denied autonomy over their time and energy. Libertarian justice requires that alternatives exist and that coercion over labor be minimized, even when basic needs are met.