Female employees of the Eiffel Tower say they were humiliated after being removed from their posts to make way for a visiting Hindu delegation, and staff walked out, forcing the landmark to close. The shutdown on Monday followed a weekend visit by a group linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, which staff and management say requested to limit interactions with women.
Union representative Diane Davoine told Reuters that, as the delegation arrived, "women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there." She said management had apologised, but the treatment left employees angry and feeling degraded. Davoine added that staff met on Monday to press for talks with management and to demand measures to prevent a repeat.
Société d'Exploitation de la tour Eiffel, the company that operates the monument, confirmed the delegation had sought conditions to limit "interactions with women," and said those demands "should not have been accepted." The operator said the request ran counter to its values and principles of equality between men and women. SETE president Ariel Weil told reporters, "It is clearly not an acceptable practice. I restate the Eiffel Tower's commitment to republican values and to the equality of men and women."
The BAPS temple in Paris said on X that the visit had been arranged with the Eiffel Tower team early in the morning to avoid disruption, and offered an apology "for any pain or inconvenience caused," adding that the organisation believes in universal values of mutual respect and service. The visit coincided with BAPS consecrating its first major temple in France on Sunday in a Paris suburb.
The row has drawn swift political reaction. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said he had taken note of employees' anger and announced an investigation into the circumstances of the visit, stressing that equality must apply at historical monuments and across the city. Political figures from across the spectrum condemned the exclusion of women: Marine Le Pen said France would never accept women's presence being "limited," Gabriel Attal warned that no culture or belief can dictate women's place, and Yaël Braun-Pivet said she rejected compelling women to step aside to meet visitors' demands.
The immediate consequence is the monument's temporary closure and a formal inquiry by city authorities and the tower operator. Employees have sought direct talks with management, and SETE has acknowledged the incident should not have been permitted. The investigation and those discussions will determine whether the operator revises its protocols for hosting external delegations and how it enforces equality protections at the site.
