Feminism and Literature

What is the job of the feminist literary critic? What does it mean to read and write as a woman?

From the readings, the best answer I can come up with is that a feminist literary critic attempts to both examine how female characters are presented in a work and how a work performs in the context of a larger social-sexual dynamic. Linda Strong-Leek’s reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart shows us this by not deriding Achebe for his androcentric story but instead pointing out the areas in which he shows the importance of women to the story.

What I’d like to know is what would feminist critics like to see in stories? Do women have to be central figures in a story in order for it to be “legitimate” in their eyes? Does every portrayal have to be sympathetic to woman? Surely, this sort of protective depiction wouldn’t be a fair and complete view of women either.

Another thing I’m confused about is the line she quotes from Culler. If reading like a woman entails not reading like a man, what the heck does reading like a man mean? I’m a man and the only works I’ve ever expressly read “as a man” are works that I’ve told to do so because they were written by women. Is it just my privilege a member of the winning team or is there really no way to read as a man?