Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

A 17th-century self-taught scholar, poet, and nun who challenged gender norms in colonial Mexico through her intellectual pursuits and advocacy for women's education

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648–1695) remains one of history's most compelling figures who made a difference by defying societal expectations for women in the Spanish colonial era. Born as Juana Ramírez de Asbaje in rural Mexico, she taught herself to read by age three and later mastered theology, philosophy, mathematics, and literature despite lacking formal education.

Her groundbreaking work Respuesta a Sor Filotea (1691) boldly defended women's right to education, criticizing the hypocrisy of male-dominated institutions that barred women from intellectual pursuits. She famously wrote: One can perfectly well philosophize while cooking supper.

As a nun in the Convent of San Jerónimo, Sor Juana built an extraordinary personal library containing over 4,000 volumes – unprecedented for a woman of her time. Her poetry collections like Primero Sueño blended complex Baroque style with proto-feminist themes, while her plays like Los empeños de una casa subverted traditional gender roles.

Despite facing censorship from Church authorities (who forced her to sell her library in 1694), Sor Juana's legacy as the first feminist of the Americas endures. UNESCO now commemorates November 12 as the Day of Latin American Women Writers in her honor.