The Magpie Mason reports that the newly installed Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel believes it is time for Regular Freemasonry to begin Initiating women, and will begin working towards that end.
This has also been covered by the press in Israel, an extensive interview of the Grand Master including his thoughts about admitting women to Regular Lodges can be found here: Israel Hayom
From the interview:
“…the matter of allowing women to join the society must first be approved by the Grand Lodge.
Women are not currently accepted, Ilan said, but "it may change. I am working on it. There are lodges in France that have opened up for women already. I'm thinking of a certain model, which I won't go into details about now, but I want women to play a big role in the society. When Freemasonry was first established, women didn't work, they stayed at home. In 2022, the world is different, and we must progress."
Ilan continued, "A well-known and respected woman once told me, 'I am angry because you exclude us.' I told her that there are places that don't accept men either. There are places that don't accept men, and there are places that don't accept women. In today's reality, there must be combinations."
"I wouldn't have women do full activities right away, but to integrate into the order first. I hope that within a few months you will see a change. I respect our tradition, I live by it, and I hope to achieve an international change" in this regard.
"Some members have been part of a lodge for decades, and at first, they were afraid to say where it was, because for them it is important to keep it a secret. I guess they would find such a change difficult, but I was surprised when I got a dozen phone calls from members asking why we haven't thought about it earlier, and younger members were particularly excited.
"What will happen for sure I do not know, but through a process, I believe soon women will also be able to be Freemasons. I said during the ceremony, 'freedom, equality, and brotherhood. Love, help, and truth.' Any knowledgable person can accept these values. That is why we will have to change the system and adjust the constitution."
Itstik, who is president of the Dan lodge, also supports the change.
"If an 18-year-old girl today can learn to use a submachine gun and fly a plane, then she can probably be a Freemason too. This is the first time that the great president wants to open the ranks. Today the world is dynamic, and if we start with this in Israel, it will spread."
Nevertheless, Ilan says that things might not go smoothly.
The Great Lodge "can take away our recognition. If a lodge is not recognized by them, then there are no international connections.
"I was recently in Romania and met presidents and officials from Europe, and we have a dialogue. When I was elected, I got a call from the great presidents of France and Australia, who told me 'Australia stands with you.' Ultimately, the change is inevitable. We will find the point of balance with women, and youngsters, and we will break conventions.”
In my view, this is pretty big news. The Grand Lodge of the State of Israel is considered to be Regular by Freemasons in the English tradition. It is also a good sized Grand Lodge, by membership count, quite a lot larger than my own.
Of course, women have been made Freemasons for a very long time. In feminine Lodges and in mixed Lodges. But not as a part of what we consider to be Regular Freemasonry. This would be a radical change.
Given the proposal’s import, I think we should discuss it.
Is it time to allow women to be initiated into Regular Lodges?
What possible benefits could doing so bring?
What possible harms could doing so bring?
Can we look to other Fraternal Organizations experiences with this to inform our own opinions?
Importantly, at least here in Washington, every single Washington Freemason has knelt at an altar of God and sworn to never watch, participate in, or give consent to, the Initiation of a woman into Freemasonry. Given that, is doing it even possible?
If someday the Grand Lodge somehow voted to free its Masons from that promise, would that action be enough for men to violate it, or would they feel themselves morally obligated to hold fast?
Women have always been Freemasons and in fact, in England there are two Orders - The Honourable Fraternity Of Ancient Freemasons and The Order of Women Freemasons. At least in the case of HFAF, (and possibly OWF but I don't know for sure) they are recognised by UGLE as being Regular, other than the fact they are women. There is not at this time Amity between the two, though the Grand Master of HFAF has reached out.
Frankly, I'm very happy with gender-segregated Freemasonry and see no personal need for anything else. My personal mileage is that we are perfectly Regular. What other's try to decide for us we are is immaterial and is on them as a mark of their own evolution. I won't judge them for it any more than I'd judge an amputee for being minus a limb.
There are many avenues to Freemasonry around the world; only in the US has masculine Masonry grown to be the 'only one'. Mixed Masonry, admitting men and women equally has been in the US since 1903, and will celebrate 120 years in 2023. Our Order is international, with lodges across the globe. Significant other Orders of Mixed Masonry exist, as well; many of them off-shoots of Le Droit Humain. We all work to the same ends, wouldn't it make sense for all of us to work together?
I recall a conversation I had after a lodge meeting with a respected brother. The focus of the conversation was the notion “free born”. His stance was that it’s utterly rendered meaningless by virtue of our current views on freedom. Chiefly, that while someone could be made a slave through force, no one is born a slave. We believe that people are born free. So how much weight does the notion “free born” carry in our evaluation of a man of being worthy of initiation? I’m sure most of us don’t give it a second thought. So, it would stand to reason that we still have customs and language in our ritual that is from a bygone era where the views of the individual were much different. My point here is that Masonry has, and will, change. In England, they use to have separate lodges for each religion (ie a Jewish Lodge, a Christian Lodge, etc). They were all considered equal, but separate. Then it changed. And of course there’s Prince Hall Masonry. Once separate, now included. We have the concept of “are you a man?” In our language and requirements, but I’ve never once seen a Masonic Code that seeks to define what “a man” is. If we got all the Masons in the US together to come up with a definition it would be surprisingly difficult to do, I think.
I know Brothers from England who have mentioned this and I just didn't get involved in the conversation.
When I hear people talk about anything and saying "well they do it in _____ country" the first thing I think is they can do what they want but that doesn't mean I should do it.
And then where will this stop?
I don't even have to say all the reasons since here in Washington ALL of those other subjects happen daily here ( I will just say Port Townsend)
And that one reason "well women can do ______ so we should be able to be Masons and in your Lodges" are another one I am not a "fan" of.
Every year we discuss what we need to do to find new members to join us that could be Masonic and THIS is never brought up as the thing to do AND I guarantee if it became the new Grand Lodge rule it will be the reason why members would instantly stop showing up to Stated meetings.
We already have the Order of the Eastern Star and Rainbow Girls I don't ask to be a member there.
Or the WNBA or LPGA.....ok I'm too old to do that these days >:-P
(and I wasn't going to say anything but I just am waking up and my eyes are still blurry but not that blurry that my mind would change)
Most recently, the Boy Scouts of America...in an effort to preserve rather than streamline their costly overhead and executive retirement system...decided to allow girls in Scouting. Whereas it takes many boys nearly 7 years to earn Eagle Scout rank (ages 11 to 18), girls can become Eagles in ONE year. The organization that once built character has lost its way and ransomed its soul.
The feminization of Freemasonry seem to be about preservation, not inclusion and diversity. I'm certain that we can determine much better ways forward than that. But, if we start down this path, will it begin with transgender "men"? BTW, my pronouns are...
2. If we become more like everyone else, if we compromise on our traditions, what will we become?
3. Men and women are different. They have different social psychology. Just because women can "...use a submachine gun and fly a plane..." Does not equate to being a man. Is masculinity a tenant of Freemasonry?
4. We have women pastors/preachers, CEOs, programmers, scientists, racecar drivers, doctors, lawyers, judges etc. Church in particular is a good example of diversity and inclusion of women. Although in the US, religion as a whole is in massive decline. Has including women more, changed this?
Why change with the times? Why would you ask me to violate my obligation? To gain new members? To try and be more relevant? Do the teachings of Jesus change? Moses? The Declaration of Independence? The Pareto distribution?
My point is we are the fraternity and institution that is not blown to and fro by every wind or culture change. No matter a cause's altruism, the ancient craft is not altruistic. It teaches virtue.
There already are is co-ed Masonry. If our values cause us to dwindle, to give up charters and consolidate; so be it. For he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
Stay steadfast in the due performance of the same.
This is a very difficult topic in the fraternity and in our jurisdiction especially.
Thinking about our obligation one sees a way in which we couldn't conceivably allow this change to occur in Washington. For many members this would be a slap in the face and it would cause many of our brethren to leave the fraternity forever. For me personally I took an obligation at the altar of freemasonry and while I get the concern and the thought process, I take my obligations seriously.
It would take many years of discussion and movement for this to occur. One of the things that would really concern me is that I would feel a disconnect from our history, and while moving forward is an honor it would take a lot for me to make a final decision.
I also look to what other jurisdictions would do. A decision like this could potentially alienate our Grand Lodge from the rest of the Country. Seeing as in 2022 we are still even attempting to get complete universal recognition of Prince Hall in the United States, and Washington has seen the response from other Grand Lodges about this in the past.
I would encourage to see a forum about this topic in a lodge of discussion.
This is a complex question, with profound impacts to our fraternity. For me there are several questions that need to be answered before a decision is made.
What I am about to write is based on a biologically typical male and female. Adding the dimension of people who gender expression and biology are different would I expect only make my argument stronger, but frankly its beyond me right now to sort out.
Can women legitimately be Freemasons? This is not the question, the answer is simply, yes. Another question that is really pointless is can women benefit from Freemasonry? Again yes. These are questions based in supporting “the way we have always done things” argument. Men and women are, taken in the integral equal. However, there are differences in details.
The questions I think we need to answer, in my opinion, come from the esoteric aspect of our Craft. For example, “Are the male and female mysteries, symbols and ritual expression different?” In many societies male and female members go through different ‘initiations’ into adulthood and as members of that society. Our third degree has elements of what is called a ”solar mythology” and often solar mysteries are tied to male systems of spiritual evolution. As a man I know that our mythology of our degrees resonates with my deep archetypal needs. Would that work for a woman? Honestly, I don’t know. What I do know is if they do not, then our degrees would need to be altered to female mysteries to be as useful for women. I think that, would dilute the degrees efficacy for both men and women.
That said, dual and equivalent systems tailored to the needs of each gender, meeting/combining after the sublime third degree of each system could exists in the same jurisdiction. If there needed to be a different mythological basis for women, and a degree set was developed for that so that they achieved equivalent moral/ethical/spiritual elevation to the current male system with each degree, then why not? A joined jurisdiction under those conditions could not only serve women, but society as a whole.
Finally, one of the ways Freemasonry affected our society was by the enlightening effect of our system of degrees. Then those men went out and worked as men in a male dominated world. The world today is not male dominated and women are playing a crucial and important role in running our world. To deny them the benefits of a system like ours seems foolish to me. I also think that today’s women would not be satisfied with membership in a subordinate organization, and would expect equality if they are to participate.
While I never have visited Israel, being Jewish I take more than a passing interest in news pertaining to it. I’m thinking how, because it is a small country, you see people of all backgrounds integrated into nearly all places in society. (The lone exception that springs to mind is religious higher education, but I could be wrong about that.)
For Israel, allowing some lodges to be “co-ed” would be congruent with anything else in life. Being a small nation, every pair of hands is needed. In their lodges, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, et al.; ethnic European, African, Asian people, et al. all meet on the Level. The unexplored frontier is the mixing of the two sexes.
If they do forge ahead with this idea, I will be interested to see how grand lodges around the world will react with their recognition standards.
To be honest, I don't think much discussion is needed. Freemasonry is a Fraternity whose goal is to make good men better. There is co-masonry, women's freemasonry, and concordant bodies which women are free to join. I see no reason to violate my obligation and make regular Masonry co-ed.
Given the status of membership and working Spouses today, over 100 years ago Women were allowed to vote:
“ Approved by the Senate on June 4, 1919, and ratified in August 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment marked one stage in women's long fight for political equality. This timeline features key moments on the Senate's long road to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.”
I have no plausible reason when asked by Women to explain “why not”.
I also have a difficulty dealing with “we’ve never done xxxx ‘full in the blanks’ before.
Our Spouses seem content that their Husbands are among honorable Men…
Our Spouses enjoy those moments of free time.
We struggled accepting Prince Hall.
I would hate to see a legal challenge to force us.
I believe Women would adhere to our Obligations though some need to be changed.
Will this happen…yes…when will it happen?
When it does happen we will assuredly look back and ask “why didn’t we do this earlier”?
Would OES be impacted if a Women decided to stay in Blue Lodge with her husband?
Would a couple have a stronger marriage when both vow to a higher moral standard.
I'd like to start my response by telling a recent story about a man who approached me about joining the Fraternity. I don't know this for sure, but I imagine most Brothers approach a prospective candidate in a similar fashion. One of my first questions is always "Why do you want to become a Freemason?". In this particular scenario the gentleman gave what I honestly thought was one of the best answers I've ever received.
He said that he worked in Elementary Education and research associated with it. He is in his early 30's and he told me that his field is almost completely women. On a daily basis, even in his "nicest" and most "meek" tones, he is received as aggressive and mean to his co-workers. He wanted to find a group of men that he could learn from and grow from. He clearly didn't understand the female perspective of his approaches and thought about the fact that there are a ton of groups aimed at supporting women in a male dominated world, but Freemasonry might be one of the only groups that truly is trying to "make good men better".
That being said, I believe that the Fraternity is geared towards helping men find their role in society. I know there have been women analog groups that have done similar things and I support that, but when it comes to whether or not women should be accepted into the Fraternity, I feel like it both lessens the main purpose of what we are trying to do, and the experience we would offer a woman would not be an experience that is geared towards them.
If it's truly just the "Esoteric" nature of the Fraternity that these women are after, there are also other organizations that accept both men and women and still give a forum to discuss these Esoteric topics. One such organization would be Martinism.
Since Co-Masonry exists within our jurisdiction (Washington) the only reason why women would want to join the fraternity would be because they can't. If they have the means to join an organization that allows women, why would they insist on joining a male only one? If it is because of they want to be with their husbands, let the husbands join hers. Nothing stopping him from doing so, except that he would most likely be expelled from the fraternity for it. Life is hard choices.
Women, to be blunt, would interfere with the harmony and fellowship of the lodge. It would be inevitable.
I also joined for many reasons, but one was that I needed a place to socialize and be around like minded men, where we can have that camaraderie and bonding that doesn't happen once you introduce women into the equation.
At one of the lodge leadership retreat dinners a few years ago, I was seated at a table with a middle aged couple. The wife made a comment that if women were allowed to join freemasonry, she would be the first to join. I replied, if women were allowed to join our fraternity, I'd be the first to demit. They didn't like my answer, but it was true, and I suspect it would be true for a lot of others. If the GL were somehow able to get such a resolution passed, it would not have the desired effect they think it would have.
Having sat through a couple of Eastern Star installations, all I can say is God help us all.
I was raised in 1974. For much of the twentieth century, Freemasonry membership brought with it opportunities for business and career advancement. My first employer had an active Fellowcraft Club whose monthly meetings allowed me to meet many of the firm's executive staff on a personal level. One could argue that, women being denied membership in the craft, this discrimination limited their career opportunities. In the twenty-first century, the advantages of Masonic membership are now limited to expanding one's social circle, with an emphasis on growth, both as a man and citizen. As a result, the act of denying women membership has lost much of its unsavory connotations.
The following paragraph from The Good Men Project suggests the benefits of maintaining the craft's traditional male-only membership. "It is invaluable to have a group of reliable men who we see consistently over time, with whom we can build a circle of trust and where we can tell our darkest stories without risk of shame. Together we form a stronghold where it is possible to drop our heavy shields and replace our defenses with the real safety that comes with genuine self-awareness and self-understanding." https://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/5-amazing-reasons-to-join-a-mens-group-fiff/
I demand of you are you a free man of the mature age of 21 years.
Logistics and opinions aside, I lt going to be interesting to watch.
Women have always been Freemasons and in fact, in England there are two Orders - The Honourable Fraternity Of Ancient Freemasons and The Order of Women Freemasons. At least in the case of HFAF, (and possibly OWF but I don't know for sure) they are recognised by UGLE as being Regular, other than the fact they are women. There is not at this time Amity between the two, though the Grand Master of HFAF has reached out.
Frankly, I'm very happy with gender-segregated Freemasonry and see no personal need for anything else. My personal mileage is that we are perfectly Regular. What other's try to decide for us we are is immaterial and is on them as a mark of their own evolution. I won't judge them for it any more than I'd judge an amputee for being minus a limb.
Everyone else's mileage may vary.
There are many avenues to Freemasonry around the world; only in the US has masculine Masonry grown to be the 'only one'. Mixed Masonry, admitting men and women equally has been in the US since 1903, and will celebrate 120 years in 2023. Our Order is international, with lodges across the globe. Significant other Orders of Mixed Masonry exist, as well; many of them off-shoots of Le Droit Humain. We all work to the same ends, wouldn't it make sense for all of us to work together?
I recall a conversation I had after a lodge meeting with a respected brother. The focus of the conversation was the notion “free born”. His stance was that it’s utterly rendered meaningless by virtue of our current views on freedom. Chiefly, that while someone could be made a slave through force, no one is born a slave. We believe that people are born free. So how much weight does the notion “free born” carry in our evaluation of a man of being worthy of initiation? I’m sure most of us don’t give it a second thought. So, it would stand to reason that we still have customs and language in our ritual that is from a bygone era where the views of the individual were much different. My point here is that Masonry has, and will, change. In England, they use to have separate lodges for each religion (ie a Jewish Lodge, a Christian Lodge, etc). They were all considered equal, but separate. Then it changed. And of course there’s Prince Hall Masonry. Once separate, now included. We have the concept of “are you a man?” In our language and requirements, but I’ve never once seen a Masonic Code that seeks to define what “a man” is. If we got all the Masons in the US together to come up with a definition it would be surprisingly difficult to do, I think.
I know Brothers from England who have mentioned this and I just didn't get involved in the conversation.
When I hear people talk about anything and saying "well they do it in _____ country" the first thing I think is they can do what they want but that doesn't mean I should do it.
And then where will this stop?
I don't even have to say all the reasons since here in Washington ALL of those other subjects happen daily here ( I will just say Port Townsend)
And that one reason "well women can do ______ so we should be able to be Masons and in your Lodges" are another one I am not a "fan" of.
Every year we discuss what we need to do to find new members to join us that could be Masonic and THIS is never brought up as the thing to do AND I guarantee if it became the new Grand Lodge rule it will be the reason why members would instantly stop showing up to Stated meetings.
We already have the Order of the Eastern Star and Rainbow Girls I don't ask to be a member there.
Or the WNBA or LPGA.....ok I'm too old to do that these days >:-P
(and I wasn't going to say anything but I just am waking up and my eyes are still blurry but not that blurry that my mind would change)
Most recently, the Boy Scouts of America...in an effort to preserve rather than streamline their costly overhead and executive retirement system...decided to allow girls in Scouting. Whereas it takes many boys nearly 7 years to earn Eagle Scout rank (ages 11 to 18), girls can become Eagles in ONE year. The organization that once built character has lost its way and ransomed its soul.
The feminization of Freemasonry seem to be about preservation, not inclusion and diversity. I'm certain that we can determine much better ways forward than that. But, if we start down this path, will it begin with transgender "men"? BTW, my pronouns are...
1. If you include women; how is it a fraternity?
2. If we become more like everyone else, if we compromise on our traditions, what will we become?
3. Men and women are different. They have different social psychology. Just because women can "...use a submachine gun and fly a plane..." Does not equate to being a man. Is masculinity a tenant of Freemasonry?
4. We have women pastors/preachers, CEOs, programmers, scientists, racecar drivers, doctors, lawyers, judges etc. Church in particular is a good example of diversity and inclusion of women. Although in the US, religion as a whole is in massive decline. Has including women more, changed this?
Why change with the times? Why would you ask me to violate my obligation? To gain new members? To try and be more relevant? Do the teachings of Jesus change? Moses? The Declaration of Independence? The Pareto distribution?
My point is we are the fraternity and institution that is not blown to and fro by every wind or culture change. No matter a cause's altruism, the ancient craft is not altruistic. It teaches virtue.
There already are is co-ed Masonry. If our values cause us to dwindle, to give up charters and consolidate; so be it. For he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
Stay steadfast in the due performance of the same.
This is a very difficult topic in the fraternity and in our jurisdiction especially.
Thinking about our obligation one sees a way in which we couldn't conceivably allow this change to occur in Washington. For many members this would be a slap in the face and it would cause many of our brethren to leave the fraternity forever. For me personally I took an obligation at the altar of freemasonry and while I get the concern and the thought process, I take my obligations seriously.
It would take many years of discussion and movement for this to occur. One of the things that would really concern me is that I would feel a disconnect from our history, and while moving forward is an honor it would take a lot for me to make a final decision.
I also look to what other jurisdictions would do. A decision like this could potentially alienate our Grand Lodge from the rest of the Country. Seeing as in 2022 we are still even attempting to get complete universal recognition of Prince Hall in the United States, and Washington has seen the response from other Grand Lodges about this in the past.
I would encourage to see a forum about this topic in a lodge of discussion.
This is a complex question, with profound impacts to our fraternity. For me there are several questions that need to be answered before a decision is made.
What I am about to write is based on a biologically typical male and female. Adding the dimension of people who gender expression and biology are different would I expect only make my argument stronger, but frankly its beyond me right now to sort out.
Can women legitimately be Freemasons? This is not the question, the answer is simply, yes. Another question that is really pointless is can women benefit from Freemasonry? Again yes. These are questions based in supporting “the way we have always done things” argument. Men and women are, taken in the integral equal. However, there are differences in details.
The questions I think we need to answer, in my opinion, come from the esoteric aspect of our Craft. For example, “Are the male and female mysteries, symbols and ritual expression different?” In many societies male and female members go through different ‘initiations’ into adulthood and as members of that society. Our third degree has elements of what is called a ”solar mythology” and often solar mysteries are tied to male systems of spiritual evolution. As a man I know that our mythology of our degrees resonates with my deep archetypal needs. Would that work for a woman? Honestly, I don’t know. What I do know is if they do not, then our degrees would need to be altered to female mysteries to be as useful for women. I think that, would dilute the degrees efficacy for both men and women.
That said, dual and equivalent systems tailored to the needs of each gender, meeting/combining after the sublime third degree of each system could exists in the same jurisdiction. If there needed to be a different mythological basis for women, and a degree set was developed for that so that they achieved equivalent moral/ethical/spiritual elevation to the current male system with each degree, then why not? A joined jurisdiction under those conditions could not only serve women, but society as a whole.
Finally, one of the ways Freemasonry affected our society was by the enlightening effect of our system of degrees. Then those men went out and worked as men in a male dominated world. The world today is not male dominated and women are playing a crucial and important role in running our world. To deny them the benefits of a system like ours seems foolish to me. I also think that today’s women would not be satisfied with membership in a subordinate organization, and would expect equality if they are to participate.
Thank you for reading The Magpie Mason!
While I never have visited Israel, being Jewish I take more than a passing interest in news pertaining to it. I’m thinking how, because it is a small country, you see people of all backgrounds integrated into nearly all places in society. (The lone exception that springs to mind is religious higher education, but I could be wrong about that.)
For Israel, allowing some lodges to be “co-ed” would be congruent with anything else in life. Being a small nation, every pair of hands is needed. In their lodges, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, et al.; ethnic European, African, Asian people, et al. all meet on the Level. The unexplored frontier is the mixing of the two sexes.
If they do forge ahead with this idea, I will be interested to see how grand lodges around the world will react with their recognition standards.
Jay
To be honest, I don't think much discussion is needed. Freemasonry is a Fraternity whose goal is to make good men better. There is co-masonry, women's freemasonry, and concordant bodies which women are free to join. I see no reason to violate my obligation and make regular Masonry co-ed.
Given the status of membership and working Spouses today, over 100 years ago Women were allowed to vote:
“ Approved by the Senate on June 4, 1919, and ratified in August 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment marked one stage in women's long fight for political equality. This timeline features key moments on the Senate's long road to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.”
I have no plausible reason when asked by Women to explain “why not”.
I also have a difficulty dealing with “we’ve never done xxxx ‘full in the blanks’ before.
Our Spouses seem content that their Husbands are among honorable Men…
Our Spouses enjoy those moments of free time.
We struggled accepting Prince Hall.
I would hate to see a legal challenge to force us.
I believe Women would adhere to our Obligations though some need to be changed.
Will this happen…yes…when will it happen?
When it does happen we will assuredly look back and ask “why didn’t we do this earlier”?
Would OES be impacted if a Women decided to stay in Blue Lodge with her husband?
Would a couple have a stronger marriage when both vow to a higher moral standard.
Membership would sky rocket.
These are my thoughts void of solutions.
I'd like to start my response by telling a recent story about a man who approached me about joining the Fraternity. I don't know this for sure, but I imagine most Brothers approach a prospective candidate in a similar fashion. One of my first questions is always "Why do you want to become a Freemason?". In this particular scenario the gentleman gave what I honestly thought was one of the best answers I've ever received.
He said that he worked in Elementary Education and research associated with it. He is in his early 30's and he told me that his field is almost completely women. On a daily basis, even in his "nicest" and most "meek" tones, he is received as aggressive and mean to his co-workers. He wanted to find a group of men that he could learn from and grow from. He clearly didn't understand the female perspective of his approaches and thought about the fact that there are a ton of groups aimed at supporting women in a male dominated world, but Freemasonry might be one of the only groups that truly is trying to "make good men better".
That being said, I believe that the Fraternity is geared towards helping men find their role in society. I know there have been women analog groups that have done similar things and I support that, but when it comes to whether or not women should be accepted into the Fraternity, I feel like it both lessens the main purpose of what we are trying to do, and the experience we would offer a woman would not be an experience that is geared towards them.
If it's truly just the "Esoteric" nature of the Fraternity that these women are after, there are also other organizations that accept both men and women and still give a forum to discuss these Esoteric topics. One such organization would be Martinism.
Since Co-Masonry exists within our jurisdiction (Washington) the only reason why women would want to join the fraternity would be because they can't. If they have the means to join an organization that allows women, why would they insist on joining a male only one? If it is because of they want to be with their husbands, let the husbands join hers. Nothing stopping him from doing so, except that he would most likely be expelled from the fraternity for it. Life is hard choices.
Women, to be blunt, would interfere with the harmony and fellowship of the lodge. It would be inevitable.
I also joined for many reasons, but one was that I needed a place to socialize and be around like minded men, where we can have that camaraderie and bonding that doesn't happen once you introduce women into the equation.
At one of the lodge leadership retreat dinners a few years ago, I was seated at a table with a middle aged couple. The wife made a comment that if women were allowed to join freemasonry, she would be the first to join. I replied, if women were allowed to join our fraternity, I'd be the first to demit. They didn't like my answer, but it was true, and I suspect it would be true for a lot of others. If the GL were somehow able to get such a resolution passed, it would not have the desired effect they think it would have.
Having sat through a couple of Eastern Star installations, all I can say is God help us all.
I was raised in 1974. For much of the twentieth century, Freemasonry membership brought with it opportunities for business and career advancement. My first employer had an active Fellowcraft Club whose monthly meetings allowed me to meet many of the firm's executive staff on a personal level. One could argue that, women being denied membership in the craft, this discrimination limited their career opportunities. In the twenty-first century, the advantages of Masonic membership are now limited to expanding one's social circle, with an emphasis on growth, both as a man and citizen. As a result, the act of denying women membership has lost much of its unsavory connotations.
The following paragraph from The Good Men Project suggests the benefits of maintaining the craft's traditional male-only membership. "It is invaluable to have a group of reliable men who we see consistently over time, with whom we can build a circle of trust and where we can tell our darkest stories without risk of shame. Together we form a stronghold where it is possible to drop our heavy shields and replace our defenses with the real safety that comes with genuine self-awareness and self-understanding." https://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/5-amazing-reasons-to-join-a-mens-group-fiff/