By joining the Women's Christian Temperance Union in 1886, Rebecca Latimer Felton was able to achieve stature as a speaker for equal rights for white women. Upon her entrance into the public realm independent of her husband's political career in the late Nineteenth century, Rebecca Felton attempted to employ elite men to help elite women achieve equal status in society. She believed that it was necessary for men to be held accountable, and during her 1887 address at the Women's Christian Temperance Union state convention, she argued that women were actively fulfilling their duties as wives and mothers, but men undervalued their importance.[7] She argued that women should have more power inside of the home with more influence on the decision making process, proper education should be provided for both wives and daughters, women should have economic independence through this education, training, and later employment and women should have more influence over the children.[8] In 1898, Rebecca Felton wrote "Textile Education for Georgia Girls" as an attempt to convince Georgia legislators that education for girls was necessary.