An important consideration here is the difference between ΔG and ΔGo. ΔGo is the difference in free energy between the products and reactants in their standard state. What does that mean? In this case, it means the free energy of water vapor at 1 atm partial pressure and the free energy of pure liquid water. At temperatures less that 100oC, liquid water has the lower free energy, so water vapor cannot exist at its standard state (1 atm partial pressure).
The "real" ΔG of a process, however, takes into account the relative concentrations of products and reactants. This quantity is defined as ΔG = ΔGo + RT ln(Q), where Q the reaction quotient describes the concentration of reactants and products relative to their standard states. In this case, Q would essentially just be the partial pressure of water vapor since the activity of pure water does not change in the reaction.
By setting ΔG = 0, we can find the partial pressure of water at equilibrium simply by knowing ΔGo. This equation is one you've probably seen before: K = e-ΔGo/RT or ΔGo = -RT ln(K) where K the equilibrium constant is the reaction quotient at equilibrium. This equation tells us that at temperatures below the boiling point of water, there is some non-zero equilibrium partial pressure of water vapor. This equilibrium partial pressure is called the vapor pressure. If the partial pressure of water above a beaker of water is below that value, evaporation will occur spontaneously (and will continue to occur until the partial pressure of water above the beaker reaches the vapor pressure). This is why evaporation can happen below the boiling point of water.
Essentially, the extra RT ln(Q) term when calculating the ΔG of a process occurring with products and reactants at non-standard concentrations takes into account the entropy associated with partitioning atoms between the products and reactants. If all the atoms are only in one phase, the entropy is very low whereas having an equal amount of particles in each phase gives higher entropy. It's this balance between the entropy associated with partitioning the atoms between the two phases and the intrinsic free energy change that comes from the liquid-to-gas transition (represented by ΔGo) that sets the vapor pressure of water.