Anderson's Constitutions of 1723 explicitly excluded women from Freemasonry, and most Grand Lodges of the English tradition still keep this rule today. Yet the history of women in initiatory societies is long and rich. From the adoptive lodges of the eighteenth century to the birth of mixed and women's obediences, it shows how the idea of initiation has had to come to terms with changes in society.
The original ban
Among the requirements for admission, the 1723 Constitutions stated that members must be free men, of mature age, and not bondmen, women or immoral persons. The reason given was continuity with the masons' trade, traditionally male. In fact some medieval and early modern sources record masters' widows in the guilds, but speculative Freemasonry chose to follow the rule of exclusion.
Adoptive lodges
In eighteenth-century France, where Freemasonry was widespread in aristocratic society, a compromise arose: adoptive lodges. These were women's lodges attached to a men's lodge, which "adopted" them and presided over their work. The women received degrees of their own, with rituals different from the men's.
In 1774 the Grand Orient of France officially recognised this form of Masonry, placing it under its own control. Adoptive lodges enjoyed considerable success in the last decades before the Revolution, with the participation of ladies of the high nobility. The adoptive lodge presided over by the Princesse de Lamballe, friend of Queen Marie Antoinette, was attended by leading figures of the court.
The adoptive degrees
The adoptive rituals had a character of their own, inspired by biblical and moral themes:
| Degree | Symbolic theme |
|---|---|
| Apprentice | The Garden of Eden and the choice between good and evil |
| Companion | Temptation and knowledge |
| Mistress | Later biblical episodes, such as Jacob's ladder |
| Perfect Mistress | The completion of the moral path |
These degrees did not correspond to those of men's Freemasonry, and women could not work independently without the presence of the brethren.
Maria Deraismes
The turning point came in the France of the Third Republic. Maria Deraismes, a writer and lecturer born in 1828, was a leading figure in the women's rights movement. On 14 January 1882 she was initiated in the lodge Les Libres Penseurs at Le Pecq, belonging to the Grande Loge Symbolique Écossaise, a liberal and progressive obedience.
The initiation caused a great scandal. The lodge was suspended by its obedience, and the event remained an isolated case for some years.
The birth of Le Droit Humain
Together with Maria Deraismes, the senator and physician Georges Martin, a champion of equality between the sexes, decided to create an obedience open to men and women with equal rights. On 14 March 1893 sixteen women were initiated, and on 4 April of the same year the Grande Loge Symbolique Écossaise Mixte de France "Le Droit Humain", Human Right, was born.
Maria Deraismes died in 1894, shortly after the founding. The obedience nevertheless grew quickly and also adopted the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, up to the thirty-third.
International spread
Le Droit Humain soon spread beyond France. An important role was played by Annie Besant, a prominent figure in the Theosophical Society, who in 1902 helped bring mixed Freemasonry to England. Through her Theosophical contacts the order spread to India, the British colonies and America. Today Le Droit Humain is an international order with federations in many countries.
Women's obediences
Alongside mixed Freemasonry, exclusively female obediences arose. In England, from the early twentieth century, organisations developed that worked with rituals similar to the men's, reserved for women. In France the adoptive lodges that survived within the Grande Loge de France gave rise, after the Second World War, to an independent obedience which from 1952 took the name of Grande Loge Féminine de France.
The question of recognition
The United Grand Lodge of England and the obediences linked to it do not recognise mixed or women's lodges as regular and do not allow inter-visiting. There are therefore, in the Masonic world, parallel systems with different criteria of regularity. In recent decades, however, relations of courtesy have developed between the various components.
An underlying question
The history of women's Freemasonry raises a question that concerns every initiatory tradition: what is essential and what belongs to a particular age. For some, the exclusion of women is part of the handed-down form; for others it is a historical legacy that does not touch the heart of initiation. The debate, still open, shows how closely tradition and history are intertwined.
In short
- Anderson's Constitutions of 1723 excluded women from Freemasonry.
- In eighteenth-century France adoptive lodges arose, recognised by the Grand Orient in 1774.
- Maria Deraismes was initiated on 14 January 1882 in the lodge Les Libres Penseurs.
- In 1893, with Georges Martin, mixed Freemasonry was born as Le Droit Humain.
- Today men's, mixed and women's obediences coexist, with different criteria of recognition.
