MASONRY & WOMAN

According to a legend: “During the rebuilding of the Temple of King Solomon, one of the workers took his lunch from his daughter, who brought it to him every day. She sat and watched him and finally asked him if he could try to cut a stone. At first, her father thought it was stupid, because this is a job for a man, but, as he insisted, he could not deny it to her. He showed her how to shape the stone and it soon became apparent that she was a natural talent. While she was not as strong as the young boys, she had a more confident touch than them.
The master builder who supervised the project soon realized how the girl was helping her father and how she was improving day by day. One day she ordered her father to bring her to a meeting of workers on the ground floor of Solomon's Temple. She feared that she would be punished, but to everyone's surprise, the Chief Master insisted that she should be accepted as an apprentice. No one dared to question his will and it was done as he ordered. After the meeting, a Master Builder objected to the Master Builder and said, "How could you do that? From time immemorial, only men can be initiated as Masons. This is against all our ancient landmarks." The Master Smiled and said, "It was not my idea. God made it Creator. I just agreed to help her improve in Art."

With the evolution of Building Masonry into Theoretical and institutionalized, during the 18th century, the special case of Lady Elizabeth Aldworth, known in her time as "The Lady Freemason", is typical, which is also the first recorded initiation of a woman in Masonry (Lodge No. 44, Doneraile Court). The spread of Freemasonry in Mainland Europe and the close relationship it developed with the European Enlightenment, combined with social developments and the emancipation of women, gradually opened the doors of Freemasonry for Women, initially with the "Type of Adoption" (Lodges). exclusively for female relatives of Masons who operated in parallel with a male Lodge and although not with a regular Masonic Lodge, carried out joint work), and then fully with the regular admission of women to Masonic Lodges culminating in the establishment of Mixed Masonic Lodges in 1893 (Maria Deraismes , founded on March 14, 1893, the Le Droit Humain Gallery in Paris) to spread internationally, as human society, entering the threshold of the 20th century, embraced the spirit of progress and equality that inspired the modern world.
It is not surprising that the Construction Guilds, although male-dominated, in their rules often established the right of membership with equal rights and privileges for the widows of the male members of the guild, nor the records in the Middle Ages for women craftsmen who were members of guilds (e.g. Certificate of the Guild of Masons, Lincoln-1389 AD, Close Rolls Diary, 1256 AD).
Both as a mother, but also as an ordinary member with an active role in the production and operation of rural and later industrial societies as well as a Queen, Priestess, warrior, Philosopher, Scientist, Artist, woman, is present in the history of Human civilization, often occupying special or even prominent role.
In its traditional form, Freemasonry excluded, following the social rules throughout history, women from its classes and privileges despite the fact that women, from the beginnings of human civilization, hold a socially and spiritually equal position with men.
Masonry is the guardian of the rights and freedoms of all people. His teachings adopt the philosophy of unity and as a foundation the equality of all people within the whole of Creation and Nature.