What Does It Mean to be a Woman?

Sojourner's Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" speech was one of the most powerful speeches in the 1850's.  Truth was born a slave and gained her freedom in 1827.  She became a well-known antislavery speaker and gave this speech at a women's rights convention in 1851.  When Truth first walked into the room among the other women at the convention, everyone was very uneasy about her presence.  One women quoted "Don't let her speak, Mrs. Gage, it will ruin us.  Every newspaper in the land will have our cause mixed up with abolition and niggers, and we shall be utterly denounced." (Stanton, p.1).  This was a normal reaction to see a black women come in to speak on the behalf of women's rights at that time.  At that time black women were under more oppression than white women because of the color of their skin, and for at one point in time being a slave.  Sojourner Truth really put into question at that point of time what it truly means to be a woman? Is a true woman the female who is in the kitchen at the service of their husband; or is it the one who is in the field working and plowing just like the men in the same position?  Truth's opinions on what it means to be women lay a basis for women's rights, because they are based off of being a "woman".  In my opinion what it means to be a woman in the 1800's was working out in the field with the men and then being expected to bare children.  If women at that time were doing the same work as men, why were they not treated equally?  To this day women in society run into this problem and the answer is still unclear.  One answer that is given is that women are less valued than men.  This is an unfair statement because women were doing equal amounts of the workload, yet receiving half the credit so therefore they should be been seen as more valuable.