In many theoretical frameworks of the social sciences, gender remains overlooked unless explicitly placed at the center of analysis. This also holds true for the early development of Convention Theory by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot. 

Convention Theory addresses inequalities and justifications, which would, in principle, also encompass gender inequalities. However, despite its broad application across various fields and empirical contexts, gender was rarely analyzed through this lens until the early 2000s. 

The newly published chapter “Gender and Convention Theory” by Léonie Bisang, Marlene Schuster, and Guillemette de Larquier, included in the Handbook of Economics and Sociology of Conventions, explores how the inclusion of gender has evolved over time and what new insights emerge when gender becomes a central focus within this framework. It presents Convention Theory as a valuable perspective for studying gender issues, traces its conceptual development and outlines three key approaches to incorporating gender into the framework: 

First, Boltanski contributed early on to the analysis of gender-sensitive topics, though his reflections on gender and gender inequalities have been criticized by feminists. Second, French scholars independently developed, as a first manner, gender and family conventions in the early 2000s. The lines of inquiry were later pursued beyond France as well. Third, in parallel to the theoretical developments, various scholars have mainly applied the concept of orders of worth to gender issues in the fields of education and training, labor and employment, entrepreneurship, family, sports, and public space. These studies offer important insights into the pervasive influence of gender inequalities in everyday life. 

The authors conclude that, since gender plays an important role regarding inequalities, it should be consistently and explicitly addressed within the framework of Convention Theory, for example as a dimension of the orders of worths – regardless of the studies’ focus.