I think this is classified as a Idiom
<span>Imaginatively [a woman] is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant.
This statement sums up the meaning of this overall paragraph. It is saying that the idea of women is one of the most important features of society, but in reality they have no rights or freedoms. The rest of the paragraph supports this statements from different examples of writing: poetry and fiction. </span>
