Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has proposed the creation of Freemason Lodges tailored for women in Ghana.
He made this statement during a grand ceremony marking his 25-year tenure on the Golden Stool and in Freemasonry.
“This may be a great opportunity to discuss forming a grand lodge for females attached to the grand lodge of Ghana,” he said referencing the successful presence of female lodges within the grand lodge structures of Liberia, akin to those in England.
The origins of women’s Freemasonry can be traced back to 18th-century pre-revolutionary France, where Lodges of Adoption welcomed women alongside men. However, these lodges diminished during the revolutionary periods.
In 1882, Maria Deraismes, a French social reformer, was invited to join a men’s Lodge, leading to the emergence of mixed lodges.
This concept later spread to the United Kingdom in 1902 through Annie Besant, eventually evolving into the Order of Women Freemasons in 1908.
By 1913, a subset within the Order decided to practice the Royal Arch degree, leading to the formation of the HFAF, exclusively for women Freemasons.
This transition from co-masonry to exclusive female membership was accomplished by the mid-1930s, marking a significant development in women’s Freemasonry history.
