Carlton Gebbia -- I'm Joining 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' to Empower Women

'90s TV actress Carlton Gebbia has high hopes for her upcoming stint on "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" ... telling friends she hopes to ditch the TV cat fights and empower women instead. Goooood luck.

Sources tell us ... Carlton, who guest starred on shows like "The Young and the Restless" and "Suddenly Susan" back in the day, is definitely joining the cast for season 4. Bravo has yet to confirm it, but our sources tell us it's happening.

Plus, we got Carlton out in L.A. recently and she all but said, "Yes, I'm on the show." Instead she talked about what she WOULD do IF she were on it. Yeah.

The addition should be interesting ... our sources tell us, Carlton's made it clear -- she's "sick of the silly s**t women do" on "Real Housewives" and wants to portray her sex as beautiful, strong and powerful, i.e., no table flipping.