Female journalists are speaking out after they were forced to stand behind their male colleagues while covering part of U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence’s trip to Jerusalem.
The journalists posted photos and videos on social media Tuesday, showing a crowd of men standing in front of them and blocking the view while Pence visited the Western Wall.
WATCH: Pence visits Jerusalem’s Western Wall
Among them was Tal Schneider, a political correspondent for Israeli newspaper, Globes.
“Women journalists are second-class citizens,” she wrote on Twitter, while posting photos of her obstructed view of the event. “The American women photographers are frantically yelling at the representatives of the White House.”
Several other journalists also expressed concern over how women were being treated.
According to The Washington Post, the holy site is currently controlled by the ultra-orthodox Jewish Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which enforces rules that men and women pray on separate sides of a barrier.
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Female and male journalists are typically separated while covering officials’ visits to the site. But one reporter, who has been to similar events, said things were different this time.
“In years of covering VIP visits, I have never seen something like today’s arrangement, with women fenced behind men. Normally for visits its (sic) separate but equalish,” Noga Tarnopolsky wrote.
In another tweet, Tarnopolsky questioned whether women being “penned off” has anything to do with religious rules.
White House staff accompanying the vice-president eventually removed a covering that was preventing the women from seeing Pence. They also brought chairs for the reporters to stand on to see over the men.
“Every effort was made to accommodate both female and male journalists while observing the rules in place at the Western Wall,” Alyssa Farrah, a spokeswoman for Pence, later told The Guardian.
The Western Wall hasn’t always been segregated. In the early 20th century, both men and women prayed together.
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Jewish groups have been lobbying for the holy site to be a more open space, according to NPR. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied the changes after facing opposition from orthodox groups.