If it weren't so ludicrous, it would be laughable: people who say that Freemasonry is evil and ought to be destroyed then turn right around and complain that women are not accepted into membership! Doesn't this seem just a bit odd?
Masonry began as an organization by and for men. It began some three hundred years ago when people looked at things far differently than they did now. Deriving customs from the stone masons of old and using the mores of the society of the time, it was assumed that only men would be involved. Because of that assumption, it was not until decades later that the requirement one be "a man" was added to Freemasonry.
That notwithstanding, some Masons of those earliest years (and thinking far more progressively than the times in which they lived) encouraged and helped to create lodges of freemasonry for women! Additionally, free-thinking women of the time also took it upon themselves to create lodges patterned nearly identically to those of male Masons. Some of these exist to this very day.
Early on, however, it became clear that a known fact of human interaction might become the downfall of Freemasonry. Sociologically, those of the same sex can and will nearly always work together more harmoniously than when both sexes attempt to work together - particularly in certain things. While it's not always 'politically correct' to create barriers, sociologists agree that for some things there's nothing wrong with (and may be a benefit to) having certain rites, rituals, and organizations composed exclusively of the same sex.
And thus the general body of Freemasonry grew, composed exclusively of men while simultaneously there existed in small numbers groups of women masons behaving uprightly and often identically to the male organization - and excluding males from their membership! They have not been accorded recognition by the general body of Freemasonry but they do exist!
During the process of this development too, some felt that the restriction to males was inappropriate and they removed themselves from the original concepts of Freemasonry to form mixed gender lodges. These too continue to exist today but are very small in number and are not recognized by the general body of Freemasonry.
In addition, in the United States and some other countries, there have developed organizations like the Eastern Star which exist as a body different from but philosophically similar and organizationally tied to Freemasonry.
We apologize for perhaps boring you with these stories which you may find totally irrelevant. Nevertheless, we feel it is important to note that Freemasonry is not sexist (a word not even coined until the organization was 250+ years old). It does, however, restrict its membership to males.
The charge of sexism belongs right here:
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