There was historically the opinion that women “’are supported by, and they minister to men’ – there was an enormous body of masculine opinion to the effect that nothing could be expected of women intellectually. …There would always have been that assertion – you cannot do this, you are incapable of doing that – to protest against, to overcome.”
Woolf quotes “Dr. Johnson’s dictum concerning a woman preacher, transposed into terms of music. “Sir, a woman’s composing is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all.’”