Young explains the role of women in the Southern Methodist Church and the importance of women's church organizations. According to Young, white middle-class southerners strove to distinguish themselves through their social work with the church. In addition, she argues that because of their gender, they had more freedom than did men in terms of taking a more liberal stance on such issues as race. She describes briefly how one effort around 1910 to rein in the women's organizations posed a threat to women's freedom within the church. She goes on to describe how women's church groups continued to flourish during her years working for the Department of Home Missions. Per her recollections, southern women's church groups emerge as an arena for women's leadership and activism.