Wife of Bath's Tale

The Wife of Bath’s Tale confused what I thought I knew about the gender structures of medieval times. The passage’s final words of wisdom were essentially that women want power. Whether over the home or the husband, The Wife of Bath’s Tale is saying women want power over it. This directly contradicts the accepted property laws of the time that gave the man of the house total ownership over all a family’s land. If this was the correct answer to not have the knight’s head chopped off, why does it not reflect the law more closely?