Women in Fraternal Orders: History and Inclusion

The story of women in fraternal orders is not a footnote to the larger history of these organizations — it is a parallel track that runs alongside it, sometimes intersecting, sometimes deliberately blocked off. From the auxiliaries of the 19th century to the fully integrated lodges of the 21st, women's participation has reshaped what fraternal membership looks like and who it is for. This page traces that arc, explains how different organizational models work, and lays out the practical distinctions that matter when navigating membership today.

Definition and scope

A fraternal order, at its most basic, is a voluntary association built around shared ritual, mutual aid, and a defined membership structure — as explored across the history of fraternal orders in America. For most of the 19th century, that membership structure was explicitly male. Women participated, when they participated at all, through auxiliary bodies — separate organizations chartered under a parent lodge's authority but operating with limited governance rights.

The term "women's auxiliary" entered widespread use in the mid-1800s and carried a structural reality with it: auxiliaries could hold their own meetings, raise their own funds, and conduct charitable work, but they typically could not vote on the parent organization's bylaws, hold office in the main lodge, or access the full ritual degrees available to male members. The Eastern Star, formally established in 1850 by Rob Morris and later reorganized by Robert Macoy, is the most prominent example of this model — a body open to both women and men but operating as a separate entity from the Masonic lodges that effectively sponsored it (Order of the Eastern Star, official history).

The scope of women's involvement today spans 3 distinct structural models:

  1. Fully integrated lodges — organizations where women and men hold equal membership, equal voting rights, and equal access to ritual degrees. The Co-Masonic bodies, active in the United States since the early 20th century, operate under this model.
  2. Women-only fraternal orders — organizations structured identically to men's fraternal orders but chartered exclusively for women. The Order of the Eastern Star in its modern form sits here for many grand jurisdictions, as does the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), founded in 1890 (DAR official history).
  3. Auxiliary bodies — the original model, still active in organizations like the American Legion Auxiliary (founded 1919) and the VFW Auxiliary, where women hold membership in a parallel structure linked to but legally distinct from the parent order (American Legion Auxiliary).

How it works

The mechanics of women's membership depend almost entirely on which structural model a specific order uses.

In fully integrated organizations, the membership application, dues structure, and degree progression are identical regardless of gender. The International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) began admitting women to full membership in 1851 through the Degree of Rebekah lodges, and formally opened all degrees to women in 2000 (IOOF official history). A woman joining an IOOF lodge today completes the same three-link degree work, pays equivalent dues, and is eligible for the same elected officer positions as any male member.

In women-only organizations, the structure mirrors the men's equivalent in almost every procedural detail — there are grand lodges, subordinate lodges, elected officers, ritual degrees, and dues schedules — but the membership criterion includes a gender component. Some women-only orders also maintain hereditary or lineage requirements alongside the gender criterion; the DAR, for instance, requires documented descent from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War.

Auxiliary bodies operate under a delegated charter model. The parent organization — say, the American Legion — grants the auxiliary the right to organize, but the auxiliary maintains its own national constitution, elects its own officers, and manages its own treasury. Membership in the auxiliary typically requires a familial relationship to a member of the parent organization, not independent eligibility.

Common scenarios

The most common point of confusion involves organizations that have changed their admissions policies over time, leaving a patchwork of jurisdictional practices.

The Freemasons are a useful illustration. The United Grand Lodge of England, which functions as a reference body for mainstream (or "regular") Freemasonry, maintains male-only membership as a regularity standard. But "irregular" or "liberal" Masonic bodies — including the Women's Grand Lodge of Belgium (founded 1913) and American lodges affiliated with Le Droit Humain — admit women on equal terms. A woman researching Freemasonry will encounter both types, often under the same search terms, with meaningfully different membership outcomes. The Freemasons as a fraternal order page addresses that distinction in more detail.

A second common scenario involves women joining the Elks, Moose, or Eagles lodges. The Loyal Order of Moose opened full membership to women in 2021, a policy shift that affected approximately 1,600 lodges nationwide. The Fraternal Order of Eagles has admitted women since 1995. The Elks still maintains a male-only membership standard in its constitution, though female family members may participate in specific lodge events.

Decision boundaries

When an organization or individual is assessing which structural model applies, four questions resolve most cases:

  1. Does the organization's national constitution specify a gender requirement? If yes, what does it permit — exclusion, separation, or full integration?
  2. Does the jurisdiction matter? For organizations with state or regional grand lodges, admissions policy can vary. Forty-nine U.S. states have independent Rebekah Assembly grand lodges, each with its own procedural variations.
  3. Is the body in question the parent order or an affiliated auxiliary? Membership in the auxiliary does not confer membership in the parent, and vice versa.
  4. What degree access is available? In some bodies, women may hold membership but are restricted from certain ritual degrees — a distinction that matters for those interested in the full ceremonial structure of fraternal life, including the fraternal order degrees and ranks that define advancement within a lodge.

The fraternal order membership requirements framework, which applies broadly across the landscape accessible through the main reference index, treats gender eligibility as one of three primary admissions variables alongside lineage and professional criteria.

References

Read Next

History of Fraternal Orders in America This page traces the full arc of that history — from the first Masonic lodges on colonial soil through the explosive growth of... Freemasonry as a Fraternal Order in the United States This page examines how Masonic lodges are structured, what drives membership, where Freemasonry fits within the broader... Fraternal Order Degrees and Ranks Explained The degree and rank systems at the heart of organizations like the Freemasons, Odd Fellows, and Knights of Columbus represent...