Eiffel Tower Shuts Down After Staff Protest Women’s Relocation for Religious Visit

The Eiffel Tower was closed on Monday after employees went on strike over the removal of female workers during a visit by a Hindu religious delegation, according to staff representatives and management.

Around 100 people affiliated with the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) visited the Paris landmark on Saturday.

Union representative Diane Davoine said that upon the delegation’s arrival, women were instructed to leave their posts so men could take their places.

“During this visit, women were asked to leave their workplaces in order to place men there,” Davoine told Reuters. She added that management had since apologized to workers.

“That does not sit well with employees, particularly the women, who felt humiliated by how they were treated,” Davoine said.

“Tensions escalated over the weekend, so this morning staff met to open a dialogue with management and to ensure women are never treated this way again at the company,” she added.

Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel (SETE), the monument’s operator, confirmed the delegation requested the visit be organized to limit “interactions with women,” according to AFP.

The company told AFP that “these conditions should not have been accepted” and were “not in line with SETE’s values, nor with the principles of equality between men and women.”

SETE president Ariel Weil said: “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 BBC has contacted the Union Confédération générale du travail (CGT) for comment.

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