Arguing the roles of women in the hierarchical society, she claimed that some features of women become exploitable under the patriarchy system. Leacock interpreted the structure of marriage as the structure of exchange and the division of labor. The exploitation of women's labor within the household is the same.
The author is discussing how women's roles in hierarchical societies can be exploited under patriarchal systems, and she uses Leacock's work to support this argument. She suggests that the structure of marriage has similarities with exchange systems and labor distribution.