International
oi-Prakash KL
The Eiffel Tower remained shut on Monday after staff went on strike following allegations that female employees were asked not to be visible during a recent visit by a Hindu religious delegation linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS).
On Saturday, the delegation visited the Paris landmark ahead of a cultural boat procession on the Seine organised by the group. Female employees were allegedly instructed to leave their workstations as the delegation passed through, while male employees were asked to replace them at some posts.
The Eiffel Tower closed Monday due to a staff strike prompted by claims female employees were asked to be invisible during a BAPS delegation visit. Operator SETE condemned the incident, which sparked investigations and a BAPS apology.
Condemning the instruction, Eiffel Tower staff said that “professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex” were issued during the delegation’s visit, according to a report by France 24.
The staff said in a statement, “Instructions were given to female employees of the Eiffel Tower and to female employees of contractors to make themselves invisible in order to welcome this delegation.” They added that they were shocked to have been put in such a situation.
“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,” the statement said.
SETE, the company operating the landmark site, said that the Hindu delegation had requested that the visit be organised in a way that would limit “interactions with women” and said that “these conditions should not have been accepted”.
It further stated that the conditions “were not in line with SETE’s values, nor with the principles of equality between men and women”. The company said it would accept the “consequences”.
Speaking to AFP, 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 French capital’s Socialist mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, said that the employees’ discontent was legitimate and that “such conditions cannot be tolerated”.
He said, “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.” He added that the matter would be investigated.
Gregoire continued, “The equality between women and men will never stop at the foot of our historical monuments, nor anywhere in this city. It must be applied everywhere, for everyone.
“I will ensure this, everywhere and without exception. An investigation will be launched as quickly as possible.”
In view of the incident, employees went on strike in protest, resulting in the historical site remaining closed on Monday. However, it is expected to reopen as normal on Tuesday.
French Equality Minister Aurore Berge expressed her anguish over the incident on X.
“In France, we do not ask women to erase themselves. No dogma, no religion is above the laws of the Republic,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Hindu temple in Paris has issued an apology over the incident.
In a statement quoted by Euro News, it said, “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,” it said.
“To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower,” it continued, adding that it believed in the “universal values of mutual respect and service.”
