Eiffel Tower faces backlash over request to hide female staff

The Eiffel Tower in Paris resumed operations with a delay on Sept. 7 after employees protested a request for female workers to leave their posts and remain out of sight during a visit by a Hindu religious delegation.

The incident occurred on Saturday during a visit by about 100 people associated with the Hindu organization Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). Diane Davoine, a trade union representative, said women workers had been asked to leave their positions and be replaced by men as the delegation passed through.

Davoine said that following tensions over the weekend, employees met with management and sought assurances that such treatment of female workers would not happen again. She said management apologized to the employees for the incident.

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said an investigation would begin “as soon as possible.” He described the employees’ concerns as justified and called for all the circumstances surrounding the incident to be established.

Yael Braun-Pivet, president of the National Assembly, also criticized the incident. She wrote on the “X” platform: “Accepting others never means giving up our own values. In France, women participate fully in public life. No one can dictate that they become invisible.”

BAPS representatives were in France for events related to the opening of a Hindu temple near Paris. The organization said the visit to the Eiffel Tower had been scheduled for the start of opening hours because of the size of the delegation and to minimize disruption to other visitors.

BAPS said that, to its knowledge, no one had been denied entry to the Eiffel Tower. The organization offered its “sincere” apologies for the concern caused. SETE, the company that operates the Eiffel Tower, did not comment on the incident.

While employees were meeting, a notice was posted at the tower’s entrance saying that opening had been delayed “for operational reasons.”