Eiffel Tower Staff Shut Landmark Over 100-Visitor Row as BAPS Apologizes

Q: Why did Eiffel Tower management secretly agree to replace female staff with men for a VIP tour?

Eiffel Tower management appears to have agreed because the visiting BAPS delegation requested a tour with limited contact with women, and managers chose to accommodate that demand for what was treated as a VIP visit. That is the account given by SETE, the company that operates the Eiffel Tower. It said the delegation asked for the visit to be organised in a way that restricted “interactions with women,” and acknowledged afterward that those conditions should never have been accepted because they conflicted with the site’s equality principles. Staff and union representatives said the result was that some female employees were removed from their posts and replaced by men as the group passed. Why management agreed has not been fully explained publicly, and there is no evidence in the reporting of a broader hidden policy beyond this specific visit. The arrangement seems to have been made to satisfy the visitors’ religious or cultural preferences during a high-profile group tour following the inauguration of the new BAPS temple in France. The secrecy issue comes from the backlash: workers said women were effectively made “invisible because of their sex,” prompting a walkout, political condemnation and the tower’s temporary closure. Paris officials have called the arrangement unacceptable and said an investigation would examine how and why it was approved. BAPS later apologised, saying it took the concerns seriously and did not intend to cause harm.

3 articles · Updated · Euronews · Sep 7

Monday’s walkout shut the Eiffel Tower after staff said female employees were moved from view during a Saturday visit by about 100 people linked to the BAPS Hindu movement.
SETE, which runs the tower, said the delegation had asked for the trip to limit interactions with women and admitted those conditions “should not have been accepted.”
BAPS’s Paris temple said it took the concerns seriously and apologized for “any pain or inconvenience caused,” while saying the early visit was arranged because of the delegation’s size.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire called the arrangement unacceptable and said an investigation would be launched; National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet also condemned it as contrary to French values.
The closure left ticket holders told to check their emails, extending a dispute that has widened from a staffing grievance into a national debate over gender equality and public values.