Editing Freemasonry (section)

===Freemasonry and women===
{{Main|Freemasonry and women|Co-Freemasonry}}

The status of women in the old guilds and corporations of medieval masons remains uncertain. The principle of "femme sole" allowed a widow to continue the trade of her husband, but its application had wide local variations, such as full membership of a trade body or limited trade by deputation or approved members of that body.<ref>Antonia Frazer, ''The Weaker Vessel'', Mandarin paperbacks, 1989, pp. 108–109</ref> In masonry, the small available evidence points to the less empowered end of the scale.<ref>for example, see David Murray Lyon, ''History of the lodge of Edinburgh'', Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1873, pp. 121–123</ref>

At the dawn of the [[History of Freemasonry#Early Grand Lodge period|Grand Lodge era]], during the 1720s, [[James Anderson (Freemason)|James Anderson]] composed the [[Anderson's Constitutions|first printed constitutions for Freemasons]], the basis for most subsequent constitutions, which specifically excluded women from Freemasonry.<ref name=AndersonCharge3>{{cite book
|url= http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1028&context=libraryscience
|access-date= 12 August 2013
|title= The Constitutions of the Free-Masons
|first= James
|last= Anderson
|publisher= [[Benjamin Franklin]]
|location= [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania
|editor= Paul Royster
|edition= Philadelphia
|year= 1734
|orig-year= 1723
|page= 49
|quote= The Persons admitted Members of a Lodge must be good and true Men, free-born, and of mature and discreet Age, no Bondmen, no Women, no immoral or scandalous Men, but of good Report.
|archive-date= 19 October 2013
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131019042640/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1028&context=libraryscience
|url-status= live
}}</ref> As Freemasonry spread, women began to be added to the [[Rite of Adoption|Lodges of Adoption]] by their husbands who were continental masons, which worked three degrees with the same names as the men's but different content. The French officially abandoned the experiment in the early 19th century.<ref>[http://www.themasonictrowel.com/books/lexicon_of_freemasonry_by_Albert_Mackey/files/AMAP1/Amac-9.htm "Adoptive Freemasonry"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004230926/http://www.themasonictrowel.com/books/lexicon_of_freemasonry_by_Albert_Mackey/files/AMAP1/Amac-9.htm |date=4 October 2013 }} Entry from ''Mackey's Lexicon of Freemasonry''</ref><ref name="Thames">[http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/Cabinet_Card_Woman_in_Masonic_Regalia.htm Barbara L. Thames, "A History of Women's Masonry"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815054159/http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/Cabinet_Card_Woman_in_Masonic_Regalia.htm |date=15 August 2013 }}, ''Phoenix Masonry'', retrieved 5 March 2013</ref> Later organisations with a similar aim emerged in the United States but distinguished the names of the degrees from those of male masonry.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20200222093053/http://www.masonicdictionary.com/oes.html "Order of the Eastern Star"]}} ''Masonic Dictionary'', retrieved 9 January 2013</ref>

[[Maria Deraismes]] was initiated into Freemasonry in 1882, then resigned to allow her lodge to rejoin their Grand Lodge. Having failed to achieve acceptance from any masonic governing body, she and [[Georges Martin (freemason)|Georges Martin]] started a mixed masonic lodge that worked masonic ritual.<ref>[http://www.droithumain-france.org/node/151 "Maria Deraismes (1828–1894)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004224129/http://www.droithumain-france.org/node/151 |date=4 October 2013 }}, ''Droit Humain'', retrieved 5 March 2013. (French Language)</ref> [[Annie Besant]] spread the phenomenon to the English-speaking world.<ref>[http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/history_of_co-freemasonry.htm Jeanne Heaslewood, "A Brief History of the Founding of Co-Freemasonry"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607001523/http://phoenixmasonry.org/history_of_co-freemasonry.htm |date=7 June 2013 }}, 1999, ''Phoenix Masonry'', retrieved 12 August 2013</ref> Disagreements over ritual led to the formation of exclusively female bodies of Freemasons in England, which spread to other countries. Meanwhile, the French had re-invented Adoption as an all-female lodge in 1901, only to cast it aside again in 1935. The lodges, however, continued to meet, which gave rise, in 1959, to a body of women practising continental Freemasonry.<ref name="Thames" />

In general, Continental Freemasonry is sympathetic to Freemasonry among women, dating from the 1890s when French lodges assisted the emergent co-masonic movement by promoting enough of their members to the 33rd degree of the [[Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite]] to allow them, in 1899, to form their own grand council, recognised by the other Continental Grand Councils of that Rite.<ref name="DHHistoire">[https://web.archive.org/web/20111021235404/http://www.droithumain-france.org/contenu/identite-histoire/histoire/les-grandes-figures/histoire-du-droit-humain "Histoire du Droit Humain"], ''Droit Humain'', retrieved 12 August 2013</ref> The United Grand Lodge of England issued a statement in 1999 recognising the two women's grand lodges there, The Order of Women Freemasons<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Order of Women Freemasons {{!}} Womens Freemasonry {{!}} Nationwide|url=https://www.owf.org.uk/|access-date=2021-06-17|website=www.owf.org.uk|language=en-gb}}</ref> and The Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons,<ref>{{Cite web|title=HFAF {{!}} Freemasonry for Women|url=https://hfaf.org/|access-date=2021-06-17|language=en|archive-date=2 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602003216/https://hfaf.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> to be regular in all but the participants. While they were not, therefore, recognised as regular, they were part of Freemasonry "in general".<ref name="UGLEFAQ" /><ref>[http://www.hfaf.org/ugle.htm "Text of UGLE statement"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604174900/http://www.hfaf.org/ugle.htm |date=4 June 2013 }}, ''Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons – Freemasonry For Women'', retrieved 12 August 2012</ref> The attitude of most regular Anglo-American grand lodges remains that women Freemasons are not legitimate Masons.<ref>Karen Kidd, ''Haunted Chambers: the Lives of Early Women Freemasons'', Cornerstone, 2009, pp. 204–205</ref>

In 2018, guidance was released by the [[United Grand Lodge of England]] stating that, in regard to transgender women, "A Freemason who after initiation ceases to be a man does not cease to be a Freemason".<ref name="trans">{{cite news|author=Damien Gayle |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/01/freemasons-to-admit-women-but-only-if-they-first-joined-as-men |title=Freemasons to admit women – but only if they first joined as men {{pipe}} UK news |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2018 |access-date=1 August 2018}}</ref> The guidance also states that transgender men are allowed to apply.<ref name="trans"/>