It is very much like an account you'd give of your own society were visitors to ask you about it. I think there are a couple of reasons. First, they want you to know that in all societies, including our own, the ideal or normative is often very different from real behavior.
People often behave very differently from what they say they do.
Much of the information in this chapter was gathered by Robert from the men of the village. In this idealized world, women occupy a submissive, inferior role to men. In other words, what they say they believe may not conform to the ways that they actually behave. This theoretical premise may be the key to understanding this book. I leave that to you to describe.