Intersectional Protection of Rights

Sor Juana experienced discrimination not as a single oppression but as intersecting denials: she was denied rights because she was a woman, because she was poor, because she was Indigenous and mixed-race, because she was intellectual and ambitious. Modern children's rights must similarly recognize intersectionality. A Black girl experiences different rights violations than a white boy; an immigrant child faces distinct threats; a disabled child has compounded vulnerabilities. Intersectional frameworks recognize that these oppressions multiply rather than simply add together. Sor Juana's life demonstrates that protecting rights requires understanding these layered contexts. A children's rights approach grounded in her wisdom would ensure that protection strategies address not generic 'children' but specific children in their complex social positions. This means culturally responsive education, acknowledging how racism, sexism, classism, and other systems target children simultaneously, and creating accountability when institutions fail children at these intersections. Sor Juana's example insists we cannot protect children's rights while ignoring the particular ways some children are targeted for exclusion.