There is a beautiful nafka mina (practical difference) between the Shulchan Aruch and the shita (opinion) of the Ashkenazim (Ashkenazi Jews) regarding whether a woman is mekabel (accepting) Shabbat when she lights the nerot (candles). We have already said several times that the Shulchan Aruch says she is not automatically mekabel Shabbat at all. It is a mitzvah (commandment) before Shabbat, but she is still in chol (weekday) mode. The Ashkenazim hold that she is automatically mekabel Shabbat when she lights the nerot. A big nafka mina is whether she wants to eat something, because normally, as soon as one is mekabel Shabbat, one cannot eat until doing Kiddush (sanctification over wine). So imagine this lady: she lights it and wants to try the food or something like that. According to the Shulchan Aruch, it is mutar (permitted): she is not mekabel Shabbat; she was not mekabel Shabbat at all, so she can eat something or drink something. According to Ashkenazi custom, that would be a problem because she is already in Shabbat mode.
However, Hacham Ovadia wants to be lenient even for Ashkenazi women, but only to drink something. Why? Because there is another machloket (dispute) about whether a lady is allowed to drink something before Kiddush. Anybody—not just a lady, but any Jew, any human being—may want to drink something before Kiddush. Is one allowed to drink something when one is very, very thirsty? Can one drink a cup of water, for example, before Kiddush? Sometimes it can take a long time. Somebody may want to drink tea or water. Can they do that? According to halakha (Jewish law), we are not allowed to. It is different from Havdalah (separation ceremony); Kiddush is different: you are not allowed to taste anything, including water. You are not allowed to drink before Kiddush. But it is a machloket: the Rishonim (early authorities), the Rambam and another group hold that it is mutar, but the grand majority of the Rishonim, including the Rosh and the Rif, hold that it is asur (forbidden), and therefore we do not do that. But it is one possibility.
The other effect is really how far the woman’s Kabbalat Shabbat (acceptance of Shabbat) goes. We saw that there was a difference between Kabbalat Shabbat b'yachid (individually) and Kabbalat Shabbat b'rabim (publicly). With Kabbalat Shabbat b'rabim, for example, somebody is making Kabbalat Shabbat with the tzibur (congregation) by answering Barechu (bless [Hashem]); then this person is not allowed to pray Mincha. He missed Mincha and answered Barechu; he is done and is not allowed to pray Mincha. But somebody who was making Kabbalat Shabbat privately and then realizes, “Oh, I forgot to say Mincha,” can say Mincha. With a mekabel, there is only a restriction against doing any melachot in the kedushah of Shabbat, but that does not mean that it is already Shabbat itself. No, it is a day, still before. It is the same thing with the woman. When she is mekabel Shabbat through the hadlaka (candle lighting), it is a much lower level of Kabbalat Shabbat. So when you put both points together, it is a lower level of Kabbalat Shabbat. Maybe she is not even asur. Number two, maybe she was not mekabel Shabbat, because according to one opinion she is not; but, okay, fine, according to the Ashkenazim she is mekabel Shabbat. So it is a low level of Kabbalat Shabbat. On top of that, there is another question: is she allowed to drink something or not? So Hacham Ovadia says that even Ashkenazi women who are really thirsty and want to drink something have someone to rely on. Therefore, they can drink something. For Sephardi (Sephardic) women, of course, there would be no problem because they are not mekabel Shabbat at the time of hadlakat nerot (candle lighting). But many Sephardi women make the mistake of thinking that they are mekabel Shabbat at the time that they light it. If that was their kavanah (intention), and they were mekabel Shabbat, they would be asur to eat something, but they would still be mutar to drink something if they were really thirsty. B'kavod.