dfreybur
Premium Member
There are women Freemasons. See http://www.co-masonry.org
There are lodges that are for women only, and there are lodges that accept both men and women. None of these organizations are recognized by the mother Grand Lodge of England, and all of them are considered "Clandestine and Irregular".
UGLE calls them "regular with the exception of gender issues". It's in the gray zone between regular and irregular. They are not recognized and as such we should not try to pass the tiler at any of their meetings. Their social events have no such issue. We have social events were non-members are welcome. So do they. We have no bars to attending such open social events. If such a lodge can be found. Ah, now there's the key that can be used for a pragmatic approach to the issue.
But where are these lodges? There are very few CoMason lodges in the US. There's at least one women only lodge somewhere in California but have fun trying to actually find a women only lodge or a CoMason lodge. To me that is how the matter gets settled. Whether I consider them Masons is irrelevant given their rarity. We are a hundred or a thousand times more popular in size of membership. Taken in that perspective it's a tempest in a teapot. Should we start accepting women? The result may well be shrinking to one percent our current size. I'll pass on the suggestion. Are the organizations Masonic? By GL technicality no. If I see a grand hailing sign I'm not taking time to check dues cards. Once I have time to check dues cards I will not try to pass the tiler in such an organization. Do I care if they call themselves Masons? Not really given their tiny size.
There is something in the constitution of some men that values associating with other men. We're the ones who keep coming back.
There is something in the constitution of some women that values associating with other women. They are the ones that join groups for women.
But how popular are men in groups designed for women that happen to allow men (or boys/girls in the case of Girl Scouts allowing boys because they sell cookies and are therefore technically a business subject to non-discrimination). Turn this around and that's exactly why lodges that admit women are one percent of less of our membership.