Eiffel Tower chief steps down after female staff sidelined for Hindu delegation’s visit
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.
The head of the company operating the Eiffel Tower will leave at the end of the year following a controversy over the removal of female employees during a visit by a Hindu religious group.
Patrick Branco Ruivo, director general of Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, or SETE, since 2018, announced his departure on Tuesday.
SETE said an internal investigation had found “operational flaws and shortcomings” in the planning of the visit which led to the exclusion of female staff.
The controversy erupted after a delegation from Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, commonly known as BAPS, visited the monument in early September. BAPS is a Hindu denomination with close ties to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
The delegation of about 100 people was in France to celebrate the opening of the first BAPS temple near Paris.
Afterwards, female employees said they had been instructed to stay away from parts of the monument while the delegation was there. Some were removed from their posts and replaced by male colleagues.
A statement released by Eiffel Tower staff said the instructions resulted in “female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex” during the visit.
“Some were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to other areas. In some posts they were replaced by men,” it added. “And all female employees were instructed not to go through or cross certain areas while the delegation was present.”
SETE later acknowledged the delegation had asked to limit “interactions with women”.
The company said “these conditions should not have been accepted”.
The incident led to Eiffel Tower staff staging a one-day strike on 7 September. The monument was closed as a result.
The incident drew widespread condemnation from political figures in France. Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire described the decision to remove female employees as an “absurd, unjust and unacceptable decision” and ordered two investigations.
“It is not acceptable that such conditions can be tolerated. These are neither my values, nor those that the Eiffel Tower should uphold, where everyone – regardless of gender – should be able to move about and act freely, without distinction between women and men,” she said.
Marine Le Pen, the far-right frontrunner in next year’s presidential election, said that “in France, we will never accept the presence of women being ‘limited’”.
National Assembly president Yael Braun-Pivet also criticised the move. “I refuse to allow women to be compelled to step aside in order to meet the demands of foreign visitors.”
BAPS, meanwhile, apologised “for any pain or inconvenience caused” by the incident and maintained that it believed in “the universal values of mutual respect and service”. The group operates temples in several major cities around the world.
BAPS had reportedly made the request to limit “interactions with women” because the delegation included several monks, including the group’s 93-year-old spiritual leader, Mahant Swami Maharaj, whose religious vows forbid contact with women.
Meanwhile, Ariel Weil, the mayor of Paris Centre who serves as the chair of SETE, said he had asked for a “dedicated protocol department” at the company, along with new measures and training programmes aimed at promoting gender equality.
“The coming months will allow us to prepare for the leadership transition under the best possible conditions,” Mr Weil said.
The Eiffel Tower is owned by the city of Paris and attracts about seven million visitors every year.
Mr Ruivo, who previously worked as an adviser to former Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, became the director general of SETE in November 2018. He will remain in the role until the end of 2026.
