Feminism as Environmental Philosophy

Sor Juana's life and work insisted that women's minds are as capable, worthy, and necessary as men's. Feminist philosophy reveals that the same logic justifying men's domination of women—naturalizing hierarchy, denying women's agency and reason—also justifies humanity's domination of nature and the wealthy's domination of the poor. Patriarchal systems treat women, colonized peoples, and the natural world as objects to control rather than subjects with their own integrity. Climate destruction accelerates this pattern: women constitute most subsistence farmers and climate-vulnerable populations, yet are excluded from environmental decision-making. Sor Juana's model of woman-as-thinker and rights-bearer suggests that environmental justice requires feminist frameworks—recognizing agency and knowledge in women, Indigenous peoples, and ecosystems themselves. This means centering women's leadership in climate solutions, recognizing how gender oppression and ecological destruction are interconnected, and building movements that liberate both human dignity and planetary health.