Women's Intellectual Property and Gender Justice

Sor Juana's struggle was inseparable from her gender. As a woman, her intellectual work was dismissed, her right to pursue knowledge was questioned, and her ideas were often attributed to male mentors or Church authorities. In libertarian justice applied to gender, this represents systematic appropriation of intellectual property. Women's unpaid intellectual labor—teaching children, providing counsel, creative work—has been treated as obligation rather than property. Sor Juana insisted on recognition: her ideas were hers; her learning was her achievement; her contributions were her property. This concept extends libertarian justice to correct historical and ongoing violations where women's intellectual output is claimed by institutions or male colleagues without credit or compensation. It grounds feminist justice in property rights and freedom principles: women own their intellectual labor, their creative work, their ideas, and their epistemic authority. Denying this is not merely discrimination; it is theft and coercion. Libertarian justice requires recognizing and protecting women's intellectual property as absolutely as any other person's, correcting centuries of systematic appropriation.