She helped found a literary society, a periodical, and a school with Gertrudis Tenorio Zavala and Cristina Farfán.

In 1877, Cetina left her position at the La Siempreviva school to serve as director of the Instituto Literario de Niñas (transl.

After her death in 1908, one of her students, Elvia Carrillo Puerto, helped to found the Rita Cetina Gutiérrez Feminist League.

Her mother assumed guardianship of her after her father's death, receiving assistance from a family friend who helped educate the girls.

To combat this, La Siempreviva published articles discussing women abroad who were beginning to enter the workplace.

According to its introduction, it aimed to "make women completely emerge from the slavery of ignorance and enter with slow but firm steps into the sacrosanct temple of truth and science.

In March 1868, Governor Manuel Cepeda Peraza ordered the creation of the Instituto Literario de Niñas, a public school that would provide primary and secondary education for girls, but it was not officially established until 16 September 1877, nine years later.

'State Education Council') with the assistance of her mentor Ramos, officially gaining the title of profesora de enseñanza primaria y superior (transl.

The first is that Cetina read a passage from the Bible in class, causing a crisis for the school by contradicting its purportedly secular mission.

[21] Cetina and the Instituto also clashed with the administration of Governor Francisco Cantón Rosado over the teaching of pedagogy and natural science.

"[24] Then, in 1866, she performed a public recitation of a poem she wrote about Yucateco soldiers returning to Mérida after the Siege of Tihosuco, which took place that year as part of the Caste War.

In 1910, several poems written by Cetina were included posthumously in the anthology Poetisas Mexicanas, which was compiled by journalist and founder of the Instituto Bibliográfico Mexicano (transl.

Julia has been cited as a "clear example of a 19th-century romantic novel" with themes of love, feminine beauty, and universal human values.

[31] In addition, she received praise for her work as a playwright, premiering the play Deudas del Corazón (transl.

The governor at the time, Daniel Traconis, was an admirer of the play, writing to congratulate Cetina on its warm reception.

That you, dear sisters, to whom we dedicate our work, grant us protection, because in union there is strength; let us all feel the holy flame of progress burning in our hearts so that by realizing the idea of our society, we can say to the face of the civilized world: Enough; the time has come for the enlightenment of women, the source of peace in the home and tranquility in the people; our sisters, onward.

Cetina is considered to be one of Mexico's "earliest feminists" by expert on Latin American philosophy Stephanie Rivera Berruz.

'First Feminist Congress of Yucatán'),[d] including Nelly Aznar, Susana Betancourt, Elvia Carrillo Puerto, Raquel Dzib Cicero, Gloria Mireya Rosado, Eusebia Pérez, and Rosa Torre González.

[37][38][39] In 1922, Carillo helped found the Rita Cetina Gutiérrez Feminist League, which gave lectures to women on subjects such as home economics, childcare, and hygiene.

After her death, on 12 and 13 October, a day of mourning was observed, with the flag being lowered to half mast in schools and dormitories and classes being suspended throughout Yucatán.

A month after her death, sculptor and architect Almo Strenta was commissioned to create a commemorative bust of Cetina to be placed in the Instituto.

With all the constancy and faith of a true apostle, she poured out the purest sap of her sensitive and dreamy soul, cultivating childlike spirits, nourishing with her science and tenderness the intelligence and heart of many girls who are now notable teachers and models of Yucatecan mothers... 32 years of constant self-denial and assiduous work... [is well-deserving] of praise and reward.