A Look Into Our Masonic Future
Speculating
A couple of weeks ago, a new Mason posed an interesting question to me. A question that I’ve been pondering ever since.
By way of background, he’s a young man, with young kids.
His question, in a nutshell, went something like this:
‘When my son asks about Freemasonry, I have an easy answer at hand. I can just tell him that he should become a Mason when he’s old enough. But, what do I tell my daughter?’
I understand the question. I have three daughters.
Two of the three are members of the Order of Eastern Star, but neither of them have attended in years. Both of them don’t find value within our local Chapter.
One of the three really wants to be a Mason. And has wanted to be a Mason for a really long time. She’s actually fairly pissed that she can’t be a Mason.
Now, in all honesty, her being perturbed by the fact that she can’t be a Mason is misguided. Female and mixed Lodges do exist in our part of the world. It isn’t that it’s impossible for her to receive the Degrees of Freemasonry, rather it is that she can’t receive the Degrees of Freemasonry in a Regular Lodge as we commonly understand the term. She could get the Degrees, but not be acknowledged as having them by the overwhelming number of Masons throughout the world.
That’s just the way it is, and frankly, I imagine she enjoys having the opportunity to gripe to me about it.
Time changes all things.
In early October, I was informed by a female member of a female Lodge that her Lodge, working with others, had formed a new female Grand Lodge (Orient) in California.
Two or three years ago, a Past Grand Master from the other Washington, Washington DC, made a presentation to the Conference of Grand Masters of North America about female Freemasonry.
Over in the United Kingdom, the United Grand Lodge of England has been working with female Grand Lodges on various projects for quite some time now. Just yesterday Chris Hodapp posted an article about legal action taken by UGLE, and its female counterpart Grand Lodges against a new (old) policy of the London Police.1
All of this begs the question:
Could our Brother give the same answer to his daughter as his son?
I wonder, will female only Masonic orders be prevalent by the time his daughter becomes an adult?
To be clear, with these questions I am not suggesting that our Regular Lodges or Grand Lodges can or should change to admit women. Personally I think that there is great value in the male only spaces we create.
But I do wonder, will women in upcoming years build a Freemasonry all their own, next to ours?
These are, I think, worthwhile questions to contemplate.
Of course, at this point, we can only speculate.
https://freemasonsfordummies.blogspot.com/2025/12/ugle-and-female-masons-take-legal.html
As I sojourn in the UK, I am impressed by the relationships our UGLE brothers have with jurisdictions they acknowledge but do not recognize or are in amity.
UGLE has links for OWF & HFAF on their website. OWF & HFAF rent Lodge rooms in UGLE buildings. OWF & HFAF have displays in Masonic museums and their members take volunteer shifts in the museums. Leaders appear together in public wearing their regalia. They don’t sit in tyled Lodge together or communicate Masonically.
I believe if the women of Washington State were so inclined we could manage similar behavior.
FWIW - UGLE meets untyled quarterly with the Grand Orient of France, which I understand has male-only, female-only, & co-masonry Lodges and admit atheists (the cause of the original schism).
It is an interesting thing to consider. I think anything that improves an individual should be available in some form. I think that men do need a space to develop personally, socially, and professionally.
This question was one of the few that gave me pause before continuing on the journey. I am curious where the march of time will lead.
Great topic Brother!