Paris: The Eiffel Tower was temporarily shut to visitors on Monday after employees staged a walkout to protest workplace instructions that directed female staff to step aside and remain out of sight during a private visit by a Hindu religious delegation over the weekend. The demonstration triggered an operational shutdown of the iconic Parisian monument as workers convened an emergency meeting with management, prompting city authorities and the monument’s operating company to order immediate investigations into gender discrimination.
The controversy stems from a Saturday morning visit by approximately 100 individuals affiliated with the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), who were in France for events commemorating the consecration of a new temple in the Paris suburbs. According to trade union representatives, female staff stationed along the tour route were instructed to vacate their posts so that male colleagues could replace them as the delegation passed. Staff representatives from the CGT union condemned the directive, stating that female employees were deliberately sidelined and rendered invisible because of their sex. The operating entity, Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), later acknowledged receiving a request from the delegation to limit interactions with female staff, conceding that management should never have agreed to such conditions.
Issuing an official statement on Monday, BAPS stated that the visit had been coordinated with monument management during early morning hours solely to avoid inconveniencing the public given the large delegation size. The organization emphasized that it was not aware of anyone being denied access to the monument, while tendering a sincere apology for any distress or inconvenience caused.
The incident has sparked severe criticism across the French political spectrum. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire backed the protesting staff, declaring the management’s concession unacceptable and affirming that gender equality must apply across all public monuments without compromise. Echoing the condemnation, National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet asserted that France’s core values of gender equality cannot be compromised to accommodate foreign delegations, reiterating that women remain fully present in the nation’s public life.
