Gender and Freemasonry

After winning the right to vote barely a century ago women now serve in the most powerful government offices. Barely 60 years ago women were not allowed to take out a mortgage at many banks, yet today they lead some of North America’s largest and most innovative corporations. As recently as the 1970s women were not allowed to attend many of the top universities in America, today they are pushing the frontier of knowledge in the academy. Yet today women are still unwelcome in "Regular” Masonic Lodges and “Regular” Freemasons are forbidden from visiting co-masonic lodges.

Add to this the recent questions of transgendered people’s interest in Freemasonry or existing Brethren undergoing their own transitions, and it’s clear Freemasonry needs to make space for meaningful discussion on the topic of gender. Yet many Brethren are unaware just how large and well-established the world of women’s Freemasonry and co-Masonry really is. Why is such a hard line drawn between our worlds and is it time to rethink that relationship? Grand Ambassador of George Washington Union and Senior Warden of Liberty Lodge #3 in Washington DC of George Washington Union, First Vice President of Maryland Masonic Research Society.