Page 14 - MFM MARCH 2015

Montana Freemasonry & Feminism
Reid Gardiner (3)
Most people do not connect the fraternity of
Freemasons with women’s rights, however several well-
known Freemasons in Montana history contributed
to women’s rights through their understanding of
equality and justice. To fully understand the magnitude
of this, one needs to also look at the basic tenets of
Freemasonry: Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth and
the four cardinal virtues of: Fortitude, Prudence,
Temperance and Justice. Yet another example of how
Masonic teaching and civil responsibility work together
for the greater good of society can also be seen in the
Creed of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry: Human
progress is our cause, liberty of thought our supreme
wish, freedom of conscience our mission, and the
guarantee of equal rights to all people everywhere our
ultimate goal.
Wherever true Freemasonry flourishes, there the
light of the Sun of Liberty shines in all its glory and
refulgence, and the people among whom it lives and
moves and has its being are enlightened, educated,
free and intelligent, independent in character, patriotic serve on juries. Colorado was the first state to adopt
to the core, and thoroughly imbued with the principle
and sentiment of “ Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience
to God.” In its temples they breathe the pure ozone
of its spirit, perfumed with the incense of Liberty,
Equality, and Fraternity: Liberty regulated by wise
laws, Equality upon the level of human rights, and
Fraternity cemented by brotherly love, ever ready
to extend relief and to receive and impart the truth.
Where Freemasonry does not flourish, tyranny mental
and corporeal, ignorance, superstition, fanaticism and
cruelty prevail. 1
In the 1800s, women in many places were not
afforded equality and often were treated as second-
class citizens. To a great extent women were expected
to restrict themselves to matters of the home and the
family. The examples demonstrating how women were
discouraged obtaining higher education or pursuing a
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career are well documented. In addition, all women
were denied the right to vote. In the American west,
these pioneering women had more opportunities to
become independent and having to cope with adverse
situations. In Montana, the pioneer women along
with men had to work together to overcome harsh
conditions and forge a living.
For Montanans, the western or frontier conditions,
lack of social activities, quick gains and loss of
fortunes caused additional difficulties. In many cases
this afforded women the ability to own property
and own or run businesses. As more women arrived
in mining camps and fledgling towns, they worked
closer with men or their husbands on farms and
developing a business. These reasons and others,
seem to have had a strong impact upon the women’s
rights movement. Certainly, women faced prejudice
and social and legal barriers. Nonetheless women in
the West and elsewhere had to wait until the twentieth
century they could vote, hold elective office and even
an amendment granting women the right to vote.
Utah and Idaho followed suit in 1896, Washington
State in 1910, California in 1911, Oregon, Kansas, and
Arizona in 1912, Alaska and Illinois in 1913, Montana
and Nevada in 1914, New York in 1917; Michigan,
South Dakota, and Oklahoma in 1918.
Paula Petrik describes the success of woman’s
suffrage in Montana as a combination of conservative
ideals reinforced by Western experience. The insurgent
politics boosted women’s political aspirations and
provided an environment receptive to expanded
political rights and participation. At the same time,
suffragists played to nativist and racist fears and
promised a sure corrective to the growing number
of foreign-born voters. Western women utilized their
feminine role to promote their participation in the
public world. 2