As recently as the 1920s, the lack of great female writers was often considered evidence of women's inferiority. Virginia Woolf disagreed. Her 1929 essay argues that creativity is impossible without privacy and freedom from financial worries, and throughout history, women have had neither therefore, no tradition of great female writing existed. Woolf's focus on the everyday suppression of women was a turning point in feminism, marking a realization that gaining legal and voting rights was just the first step on the road to true equality. Ordinary, everyday life had to be altered, too. Woolf's essay remains deeply relevant, providing a framework for analysis of any group suffering injustice.