The organised admission of women into International Co-Freemasonry began in France in 1882 with the initiation of Maria Deraismes into the Loge Libre Penseurs (Freethinkers Lodge), under the Grande Loge Symbolique de France. In 1893, along with activist Georges Martin, Maria Deraismes oversaw the initiation of sixteen women into the first Lodge in the world to have both men and women as members, from inception, creating the jurisdiction Le Droit Humain (LDH) Again, these are considered by “Regular” Freemasonry as irregular bodies.
Le Droit Humain and a number of other “irregular” masonic organisations have a presence in North America which are open to women either in an androgynous or wholly feminine manner. These orders act upon similar rituals to regular Freemasonry and their work contains similar moral and philosophical content to regular freemasonry.
In the Netherlands, there is a entirely separate, although Masonically allied, sorority for women, the Order of Weavers (OOW), which uses symbols from weaving rather than stonemasonry.
The rite of adoption for female lodges originated in France. The Grand Orient of France and other Masonic bodies in the Continental European tradition fully recognize Co-Freemasonry and women’s Freemasonry.