Since she was appointed minister of social equality just a few months ago, Gila Gamliel of the Likud Party has appeared before the Committee to Advance the Status of Women no less than three times. This rate is exceptional, considering her busy schedule, and is about more than just her involvement in the struggle for gender equality. It also has to do with the excellent relationship she has nurtured with that committee’s chair, Israeli-Arab Knesset member Aida Touma-Sliman of the Joint List.

As the first female Arab Knesset member to serve in this position, Touma-Sliman found the Likud minister to be a committed partner in her struggle to reduce the disparities that Arab women have long experienced between them and their Jewish counterparts. For her part, Gamliel found in Touma-Sliman a partner in the liberal spirit of feminism and the effort to advance the status of women overall.

Recently, Gamliel invited Touma-Sliman to participate in a meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Legislation while it was dealing with the advancement of women’s issues. “It was the first time that a female Arab Knesset member ever took part in that forum,” Gamliel was proud to tell Al-Monitor. In a populist atmosphere of Arab and right-wing Jewish Knesset members frequently attacking each other, cooperation between these two talented women from opposite sides of the political spectrum is a refreshing change, well worth noting.

Gamliel is part of the younger generation of women in the Likud Party promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the last election. The ministry that she heads handles elderly citizens and issues pertaining to gender and sectoral equality. The 41-year-old mother of two young girls has personally experienced the difficulties women face in Israel as they try to manage a career or even just to earn a living while raising their children. According to her, however, there is a hierarchy even among women facing discrimination, with Arab women at the very bottom of the pack. “One of my goals is to reduce the disparity between Arab and Jewish women,” she said. “That’s tremendously important for me personally.”