In Freemasonry the potential for strong affiliations and lasting friendships is one of the principal attractions that all Masons identify
physiological advantage over women in terms of physical strength and speed of running. Through natural selection these differences were reinforced and reflected in the ways in which Late Stone Age communities organised themselves. In Lionel Tiger’s book, Men in Groups – A controversial look at all-male societies,7 he notes: ‘My proposition is that specialization for hunting widened the gap between the behaviour of males and females. It favoured those ‘genetic packages’ which arranged matters so the males hunted co-operatively in groups while females engaged in maternal and some gathering activity.’ It is this long-standing legacy of male bonding, Tiger and others argue, that lives on in modern times in many shapes and forms. This is not to say that bonds between females were, and are, any less strong. Male fraternities are mirrored by female sororities of all kinds – from the Women’s Institute to less formal female social networks. It is also the case that while UGLE does not admit women, there are two orders of women Freemasons that follow largely unadapted male ceremonies and traditions – even referring to each other as ‘brother’. Additionally, while membership of lodges is restricted to men, women are far from excluded from visiting them, as we see in Section 2.3.
7
The Future of Freemasonry: A report by the Social Issues Research Centre 2012
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Tiger, L. (1970)
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