Can women become Freemasons?

Eligibility for regular membership in the fraternity has historically been restricted to men, a principle rooted in the traditional practices of operative building gilds 1. While other English trade livery companies admitted women to their freedom, historical evidence indicates that operative masonic gilds did not 1. Scholarly commentary recorded in Masonic literature emphasizes that women were excluded from lodge membership because the fraternity was instituted as a men's society 1.

Alternative and auxiliary bodies nevertheless developed to accommodate women outside regular Craft lodges. During the eighteenth century, Continental Europe saw the rise of adoptive rites and mixed-gender societies, including the Order of the Rose, the Mopses, and the Order of Fendeurs 1. In certain advanced degree structures, adoptive degrees were occasionally conferred upon women, as when the Ancient and Primitive Rite conferred adoptive degrees on Madame Blavatsky in 1877 1.

Independent female jurisdictions operate today alongside the traditional brotherhood. The United Grand Lodge of England states on its website that while its own membership remains exclusively male, two female-only bodies—The Order of Women Freemasons and the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons—practise identical ceremonies for women, maintaining a cooperative working relationship with the male Grand Lodge without intervisitation.

The source named below is not among the works in my library. I named it from memory rather than by consulting it, so it may be online or in print elsewhere. What it says may well be right — please check it at the source. “The United Grand Lodge of England states on its website that while its own membership remains exclusively male, two female-only bodies—The Order of…”

Co-masonry originated in Paris in 1893 through the collaboration of Maria Deraismes and Dr. Georges Martin 2. Martin, a physician, French senator, and advocate for women's rights, sought to establish a mixed-gender fraternity and enlisted Deraismes, who had previously been initiated into a French lodge 2. Between March and April 1893, Deraismes initiated, passed, and raised sixteen women to establish a lodge, which Martin then affiliated with to create the first mixed lodge, named Le Droit Humain 2.

The new organization was initially framed as the Grande Loge Symbolique Ecossaise Mixte de France, restricting its early work to the three degrees of the Craft 2. In 1900, Dr. Georges Martin and other Inspectors-General superposed the higher degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite onto the Craft degrees, forming a Supreme Council to govern the Order, issue charters, and preserve its constitution 2. Unlike traditional Masonic bodies of the period, the early French organization rejected mandatory religious dogmas and did not invoke the Grand Architect of the Universe, placing the motto *A la gloire de l'Humanité* on its warrants and diplomas 2.

The movement expanded internationally, reaching 12,000 members across Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Oceania by 1912 2. Its introduction to the English-speaking world became closely associated with the Theosophical movement 2. Introduced to Great Britain in 1902 under the name Joint Freemasonry, the first lodge—Human Duty, No. 6—was consecrated in London 2. The English branch reinstated the traditional declaration of a creative principle under the title of the Great Architect of the Universe and adopted the name Universal Co-Freemasonry, with Annie Besant becoming a prominent leader and Grand Master 2. The International Order of Freemasonry for Men and Women Le Droit Humain notes on its website that the fraternity now operates worldwide in over 60 countries, working the 1st through the 33rd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

The source named below is not among the works in my library. I named it from memory rather than by consulting it, so it may be online or in print elsewhere. What it says may well be right — please check it at the source. “…Order of Freemasonry for Men and Women Le Droit Humain notes on its website that the fraternity now operates worldwide in over 60…”

Present-day women's Masonic orders operate as independent obediences, working the standard degrees of Craft Masonry and appended orders while maintaining single-sex or co-Masonic membership.

In the twentieth century, single-sex female Freemasonry developed two principal Grand Lodges in the United Kingdom. The Order of Women Freemasons, founded in 1908 as the Honourable Fraternity of Antient Masonry, became exclusively female by 1935 and adopted its present title in 1958, as outlined in historical summaries published by the United Grand Lodge of England and the Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire. A second body, the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons—also known today as Freemasonry for Women—was established in 1913, as recorded on the fraternity's website. Both of these English obediences work the traditional three degrees in the Craft, as well as higher degrees such as the Holy Royal Arch, while operating independently of male jurisdictions. Internationally, women also participate in mixed-gender obediences such as the International Order of Freemasonry for Men and Women, Le Droit Humain, and in continental European bodies like the Grande Loge Féminine de France.

These modern female Grand Lodges are distinct from the nineteenth-century side-degrees described in older literature. Historically, conferring degrees such as the Mason's Wife in the Craft, or the Heroine of Jericho and Good Samaritan in the Royal Arch, provided female relatives of Masons with a means of recognition for protection and benevolence 1. However, as noted in Mackey's Encyclopedia, these informal degrees did not admit women to the inner portal of Freemasonry nor constitute Female Freemasonry 1.

The source named below is not among the works in my library. I named it from memory rather than by consulting it, so it may be online or in print elsewhere. What it says may well be right — please check it at the source. “…title in 1958, as outlined in historical summaries published by the United Grand Lodge of England and the Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire.”“…Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons—also known today as Freemasonry for Women—was established in 1913, as recorded on the fraternity's website.”