The iconic Eiffel Tower was closed to the public on Monday after staff went on strike following an incident in which female employees were removed from their work areas to accommodate a visiting Hindu religious delegation, according to workers and management.
The controversy emerged on Saturday during a visit by a delegation of around 100 people associated with the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), reports BBC.
Diane Davoine, a representative of the staff union, said female workers were instructed to leave their work areas when the delegation arrived.
“During the visit of this delegation, women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there,” Davoine told Reuters.
She said the management of the monument had since apologised to staff over the incident.
Davoine said the decision had deeply offended employees, particularly the women affected.
“So that absolutely does not go down well with the employees, with women obviously, who are all humiliated by what happened, by the way some were treated,” she said.
Employees held a meeting on Monday morning to begin discussions with management and seek guarantees that female staff would never again be subjected to similar treatment.
The Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel (SETE), which operates the Paris landmark, confirmed to AFP that the visiting delegation had requested arrangements to limit “interactions with women”.
The company acknowledged that such demands should not have been accepted.
“These conditions should not have been accepted,” SETE told AFP, adding that they were fundamentally “not in line with SETE’s values, nor with the principles of equality between men and women”.
SETE President Ariel Weil condemned the decision, saying: “It is clearly not an acceptable practice.”
He reaffirmed the Eiffel Tower’s commitment to republican values and gender equality.
The BBC has contacted the Union Confédération générale du travail (CGT) for comment.
The incident took place shortly before BAPS consecrated its first major temple in France in the Parisian suburbs on Sunday. On its website, BAPS describes itself as a “spiritual, volunteer-driven fellowship dedicated to improving society” guided by Hindu values. It operates temples in major cities around the world, including London, Los Angeles and Sydney.
In a statement posted on X, the BAPS temple in Paris said the visit had been “arranged in conjunction with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours to avoid disrupting or inconveniencing others”.
The group apologised “for any pain or inconvenience caused” and said it “believe[s] in the universal values of mutual respect and service”.
The incident has drawn strong criticism from French political figures.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said an official investigation would be launched into the circumstances surrounding the visit. Expressing solidarity with the Eiffel Tower staff, he wrote on X: “I am taking note of the anger expressed by the employees of the Eiffel Tower, and I want to tell them that their discontent is legitimate.”
“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,” he added.
French hard-right leader Marine Le Pen also criticised the incident, saying: “In France, we will never accept that the presence of women be ‘limited’.”
Former centre-right French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who has declared his candidacy for next year’s presidential election, said: “In France, no culture, no belief, no worship, nothing nor anyone can come to dictate to women their place.”
Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of France’s National Assembly, also voiced her opposition.
“I refuse to allow women to be compelled to step aside in order to meet the demands of foreign visitors,” she said.
