Abstract
The issue of gender in contemporary Iran has deep ties with politics. The process of politicizing the issue of gender in order to create political legitimacy was started by the Pahlavi regime and then pursued by the opponents of the regime with more intensity for the purpose of delegitimization of it. The delegitimization of the established regime by attacking its gender policy played a central role in building the legitimacy of the alternative system, and on this basis, the gender approach of the Islamic Republic system became one of the most important sources of its political legitimacy. In the upcoming article, we have examined this proposition with a qualitative and historical approach and by considering David Beetham's conceptualization of political legitimacy. The findings indicate that within the framework of gender policy, the Islamic system has linked its ideological interests in terms of official supervision in the field of culture and society with the historical approach of Iranian society in relation to ethical considerations in the field of gender and has created a legitimizing policy that has the ability to attract a wide range of society in the most years of the system's life. This policy is the product of a historical process that most of Iran's political forces, due to the combination of the two elements of traditionalism and anti-Westernism, have contributed to its formation.
Keywords: Gender, Women, Political Legitimacy, The Pahlavi Regime, The Islamic Republic.
 
Introduction
The developments of the gender issue in the Middle East since the second half of the 20th century have had an obvious impact on the political process in the countries of the region. Contrary to the trend in the West, this development was not a result of the collective movement of women and the pressure of the feminist movement, but rather the product of the individual initiatives of the leaders who, in the era of decolonization after the war, sought to establish a new legitimacy over the traditional legitimacy governing their societies. Modern gender politics had an important position in the legitimacy structure they built. But this development faced the resistance of the traditional society and gender issues became an important symbol of standing against modernization and westernization in these countries. On this basis, the issue of women became one of the axes of confrontation between the governments and their opponents in the Middle East, and the issue of gender as a political matter in these societies was clearly manifested. Iran has also been one of the focal points of this evolution. The process of politicizing the issue of gender in Iran and linking it to political legitimacy started with the absolute modernism of Pahlavi and gained wider dimensions with the formation of the Islamic Republic.
 
Materials and Methods
The nature of the current research is historical with a sociological approach. The research is of a descriptive-analytical type, and in terms of information gathering tools, it is done using library method. From the perspective of analyzing the findings, the qualitative analysis method has been used.
 
Discussion and Result
In examining the legitimation of gender politics in the Islamic Republic, we have considered David Beetham's justifiability view of political legitimacy. Contrary to the view of believability (Weber's view) during which the opinion of the government and society are aligned, in the view of justifiability there is not necessarily a complete alignment; Rather, due to a common element between the two sides, a kind of convergence has been created and the positions of the two are linked together. According to this point of view, in a legitimizing policy, there is always an intermediate link that connects the official approach of the political system with the historical approach of the society and thereby makes that policy justifiable for the majority of people. In this framework, even the opponents of a government might be a part of its legitimation process. According to the analysis in this article, the religious and legal hijab has been the connecting link between the ideological approach of the system and the historical and cultural approach of the Iranian society in the issue of gender. This connection has created great legitimacy for the Islamic Republic.
 
Conclusion
Within the framework of gender policy, the Islamic Republic has linked its ideological interests in terms of official supervision in the field of culture and society with the historical approach of Iranian society in relation to ethical considerations in the field of gender and has created a legitimizing policy that has the ability to attract a wide range of society. This policy is the product of a historical process that most of Iran's political forces, due to the combination of the two elements of traditionalism and anti-Westernism, have contributed to its formation.
Traditional and religious culture as the basis of the government's gender policy has an ethical orientation in the field of gender. A gender policy with moralistic trend can be highly justified in a traditional society. But it should be kept in mind that the traditional base of Iranian society has undergone various transformations over time. During the 1990s, the above-mentioned transformation became more apparent and the cultural changes caused by the change of generations in Iranian society and the emergence of new lifestyles have become more apparent than in the past. Signs of the formation of a new process of politicizing the issue of gender can be seen in this transition, and it is not so strange; The historical experience of the past regime shows that the political function of gender is a two-way matter that both the political system and its opponents can take advantage of.