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The head of the company operating the Eiffel Tower will step down at the end of the year following a controversy over the removal of women employees during a visit by a Hindu religious delegation, the company said on Tuesday, September 29.
Patrick Branco Ruivo, director general of the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), has headed the company since 2018. SETE said an internal investigation into the September 5 visit by a delegation linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) found “operational flaws and shortcomings” in the organisation of the visit, which resulted in the “unacceptable” exclusion of female staff.
The decision comes weeks after Eiffel Tower employees went on strike over the incident, forcing the landmark to close for a day on September 7. Staff had protested against instructions that female employees should move away from areas where the BAPS delegation was present.
SETE said the investigation found that the arrangements for the visit had led to the “unacceptable” removal of women staff. SETE chair Ariel Weil said the company would use the coming months to prepare for a leadership transition and introduce a “dedicated protocol department”, along with new measures and training programmes to promote gender equality.
The September 5 visit involved around 100 people linked to BAPS, which was in Paris for events surrounding the opening of a large traditional Hindu temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges, near Paris.
The BAPS delegation had requested that the visit be organised to limit “interactions with women”. SETE had earlier acknowledged that such conditions “should not have been accepted”.
Eiffel Tower staff said female employees were instructed to leave their posts or move to other areas while the delegation passed through the monument. In some locations, they were replaced by male employees.
“Some were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to other areas. In some posts they were replaced by men. And all female employees were instructed not to go through or cross certain areas while the delegation was present,” staff said.
In a statement, Eiffel Tower staff condemned “professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex”.
The incident prompted criticism from French political leaders. Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of France’s National Assembly, said: “I refuse to allow women to be compelled to step aside in order to meet the demands of foreign visitors.”
The Socialist mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire, described the decision as “absurd, unjust and unacceptable” and ordered two separate investigations into the incident.
The BAPS organisation has apologised for the controversy but disputed the suggestion that women had been deliberately denied access to the monument. In a statement released after the visit, the BAPS Hindu temple in Paris said it took the concerns “very seriously” and apologised for “any pain or inconvenience caused”.
“Due to the size of our delegation, the visit was arranged in conjunction with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours to avoid disrupting or inconveniencing others,” BAPS said.
“To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower,” the organisation said, adding that it believed in the “universal values of mutual respect and service”.
BAPS is a denomination within the Swaminarayan tradition of Hinduism. The organisation says its sadhus, or monks, follow strict vows of celibacy. Its own literature describes an eight-fold form of celibacy under which sadhus are expected not to talk to, touch or associate with women.
The distinction between men and women in interactions with BAPS sadhus became relevant to the Eiffel Tower controversy because the September delegation included BAPS monks. BAPS says these restrictions are intended as a form of spiritual discipline rather than discrimination against women, and maintains separate religious and social activities for male and female devotees.
BAPS has a longstanding association with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi has spoken publicly about his relationship with Pramukh Swami Maharaj, one of BAPS' prominent spiritual leaders, and has participated in the organisation's temple projects overseas. He addressed the inauguration of the BAPS temple near Paris by video message on September 6, describing it as a milestone in India-France cultural relations.
BAPS had also apologised earlier in September, saying it believed in “universal values of mutual respect and service”. The organisation's Paris temple was inaugurated as part of a 13-day Festival of Culture.
The Eiffel Tower, which is owned by the city of Paris, receives nearly seven million visitors each year. SETE said the leadership transition would take place while it works on measures to prevent similar incidents. Weil said he had called for new protocols and training programmes focused on gender equality.
