Can Women Become Freemasons? The Traditional and Co-Masonic Reality

The first person I told about my petition was my sister. Her response was immediate: wait, can I join? I did not know the answer. I assumed it was no, and I was half right. The full answer turned out to be more interesting than I expected, so here is what I found out.

Short version: the Grand Lodges most people mean when they say Freemasonry admit only men. But women have been Freemasons for well over a century, in their own Grand Lodges and in mixed lodges, and those organisations are thriving.

§Why mainstream lodges are men only

Modern Freemasonry grew out of the stonemason guilds of medieval Britain, which were male trades. When the first Grand Lodge was founded in London in 1717, its rules, known as the Constitutions, followed that tradition and admitted only men. Almost every mainstream Grand Lodge since has kept the rule. These are the lodges recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England and by most American Grand Lodges. Who Can Join the Freemasons? lists the other requirements.

Masons in these lodges will tell you it is not about thinking less of women. It is about keeping a tradition, and about the particular kind of fellowship that comes from a single sex group, much as women's colleges or women's clubs do. You do not have to agree with that reasoning, but it helps to know it is not hostile.

§Women Freemasons are real, and old

In the eighteenth century, France developed lodges of adoption, attached to men's lodges, where women received their own degrees. Then in 1882 a French lodge initiated a writer called Maria Deraismes, and in 1893 she co founded Le Droit Humain, a fully mixed Masonic order admitting men and women equally. It spread worldwide and is still active today.

In England, women's Masonry grew out of co Masonry in the early twentieth century, leading to two women only Grand Lodges: the Order of Women Freemasons, founded in 1908, and the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, founded in 1913. Both work rituals very close to the men's lodges and have hundreds of lodges between them. In 1999, the United Grand Lodge of England publicly acknowledged that these women's Grand Lodges are regular in their practice, apart from admitting women. Their own sites, such as owf.org.uk, explain how to join.

§The options for women today

• Women only Grand Lodges, such as the Order of Women Freemasons and HFAF in Britain, and similar bodies in France, the United States and elsewhere.
• Co Masonic orders admitting men and women equally, such as Le Droit Humain, known in America as the American Federation of Human Rights.
• Liberal or adogmatic Grand Lodges, mainly in continental Europe, many of which are mixed.
• Family appendant bodies linked to mainstream Masonry, such as the Order of the Eastern Star. The Order of the Eastern Star explains how women participate there.

Which one fits depends on what you want. If you want to be a Freemason yourself, a women's or co Masonic lodge is the path. If you want to share the Masonic world with a husband or father, the Eastern Star might suit you better.

Thinking about joining yourself, or helping a man in your life decide? The free Readiness Quiz explains the core requirements in five minutes.

§Recognition, simply put

Masonic recognition means two Grand Lodges agree to treat each other as legitimate, so their members can visit each other's lodges. Mainstream Grand Lodges do not extend recognition to women's or mixed orders. That does not make those orders fake. It just means two separate families of Freemasonry exist side by side. Why Are There So Many Different Types of Freemasonry? and What Is a Grand Lodge? explain recognition in more depth.

§What happened with my sister

She looked into it, found a co Masonic lodge about forty minutes from her house, went to an open evening and petitioned a few months later. Her lodge is small, about twenty members, mostly professionals in their thirties and forties. She tells me her ritual is almost word for word what I learned. We cannot sit in each other's lodges, but we compare notes over dinner, and honestly, it is one of the best things that has come out of my own petition.

§How a woman can find a lodge

1. Search for women's Freemasonry or co Masonry plus your city or country.
2. Check the order's official website for a list of lodges and an enquiry form.
3. Ask about open evenings or information sessions.
4. Expect a similar process to men's lodges: petition, interview, ballot. The Investigating Committee and What Is the Masonic Ballot? explain these steps.

§Clearing up a few myths

No, women in co Masonry are not doing a watered down version. No, men's lodges are not secretly against women. And no, you will not find any shadowy female Illuminati hiding behind it all. Freemason Myths and the Truth Behind Them covers more of the wild stuff people believe.

§What men's lodges think about women Masons

In my experience, most Masons in men's lodges are perfectly respectful of women's and co Masonic orders, and plenty have wives, sisters or daughters who belong to one. The disagreement is about recognition and tradition, not about whether women can live Masonic values. Some brethren privately think the rule will change one day. Others are firmly attached to it. Either way, it is not a topic that dominates lodge life, and it is never a reason for a woman to feel unwelcome at a family dinner or open event. Will My Family Be Welcome? shows how lodges include partners and relatives, and What Is a Grand Lodge? explains who would have to decide if the rule ever changed.

So, can women become Freemasons? Yes. Just not in the same lodges as most men. And if my sister is anything to go by, they are getting just as much out of it.