Quote by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: “Who forbade women to engage in private studies?”

This rhetorical question boldly challenges the prevailing patriarchal norms that restricted women's intellectual activities. It directly questions the legitimacy and origin of such limitations, advocating powerfully for women's inherent right to learn and grow intellectually.

A central question posed in her 'Reply to Sor Philotea,' this encapsulates Sor Juana's feminist stance. She questioned societal decrees that confined women, making a powerful argument for intellectual equality in a restrictive colonial context.

Mexican poet, philosopher, and nun of the colonial era, considered the first published feminist writer of the Americas. Her poetry, plays, and essays challenged the intellectual and social restrictions placed on women in seventeenth-century New Spain with extraordinary courage.