The Right to Know as Social Justice

Sor Juana fought for women's right to intellectual engagement in a patriarchal system that denied such access based on gender and class. She argued that knowledge-seeking was a natural human right, not a luxury or rebellion. This concept frames education and intellectual access as justice issues: poverty often means restricted schooling, information access, and epistemic authority. When systems deny knowledge to poor communities, they deny the tools for self-definition and collective empowerment. Sor Juana's fierce defense of her studies models the claim that marginalized people deserve unobstructed access to learning. Today, digital divides, underfunded schools, and information asymmetries perpetuate injustice. Recognizing 'the right to know' as a justice demand—not charitable provision—reorients poverty conversations toward structural rights rather than individual deficits.