Hi, Can you tell me about the feminist criticism and movement?

Dear Aspirant,

The 'women's movement' of the 1960s was not the actual start of feminism. Rather it was the renewal of an old tradition of thought and action. This was seen in the classical old books that addressed the problem of the inequality of women. For example, Mary Wollstonecraft's 'A Vindication of the Rights of Women' , Virginia Woolf's ' A Room of One's Own' portrays vividly the unfair treatment of women in totalitarian terms. Whether it is to seek education, or find alternatives in marriage and motherhood.
The feminist literary criticism is the direct product of the women's movement. The movement in itself realized the  significance of the images propagated by literature. These images needed their authority to be questioned and it was important to combat them.  The representation of women in literature was considered to be one of the most important forms of  'socialization' since it provided role models which indicated to women and men, what constituted acceptable versions of the female.

In feminist criticism in the 1970s, the major effort went into exposing the atrocities of patriarchy. The cultural mind set of the men and women were targeted that was primarily responsible for the prevailing inequality.  The 1980s saw feminist criticism becoming more inclined towards drawing upon the findings and approaches of other kinds of criticism and also switched its focus from attacking male versions of the world to understanding the female versions. It also switched to the need of constructing a new canon of women's writing and gave it prominence.

Hope this helps. All the best!