The Largest Fraternal Order That Women Can Actually Join

The Order of the Eastern Star occupies a particular structural niche in the Masonic world: it is the principal route by which the Masonic system opens to women at all.

Adoptive Masonry

Developed in the United States around 1850 by Rob Morris, the order admits both women and men, with membership generally open to Master Masons and to women who hold a Masonic relationship, which is why it is described as an adoptive or appendant body rather than as Freemasonry proper. Its ritual draws moral lessons of fidelity, faith and charity from a set of biblical heroines, symbolised by a five-pointed star.

Not a religion, and not the craft

The order presents itself not as a religion but as a fraternal body grounded in shared moral values, and it is careful to distinguish itself from the craft lodges: it confers no Masonic degrees and its members are not made Masons by it. Its scale, with chapters across the United States and abroad, makes it one of the largest fraternal organisations open to women, and its charitable and social work is the ordinary substance of its activity.