The head of the company that operates the Eiffel Tower, Patrick Branco Ruivo, is stepping down after an investigation found management failures behind a decision to pull female staff from their posts during a private visit by a Hindu religious delegation earlier this month, according to Deutsche Welle.
The episode began on September 6, when around 100 members of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, a Hindu spiritual movement known as BAPS, visited the monument in Paris ahead of a nearby temple inauguration. Female employees on the tower's upper floors were told to leave their posts so male colleagues could take their places, a union representative said at the time. "Women were asked to leave their workstations so that men could take their places," said Diane Davoine, a union representative, in comments reported by Reuters.
A Walkout, Then an Apology
Staff walked out in protest, forcing the tower to close for several hours before it reopened days later. The operating company, known as SETE, initially acknowledged that the delegation had requested the visit be arranged to limit "interactions with women" and said "these conditions should not have been accepted." BAPS apologized "for any pain or inconvenience caused," saying in a statement reported by Al Jazeera that "at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower."
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire ordered a formal investigation within days of the incident, saying "it is urgent that all light be shed on the facts." That inquiry has now concluded, finding management failures in how the visit was approved and staffed, and Branco Ruivo's departure is the most visible consequence. National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet had said at the time that the episode ran counter to the fact that "women are fully present in public life" in France.
The controversy became a flashpoint in a broader French debate over how public institutions and businesses should handle requests from religious or cultural groups that conflict with gender-equality norms. The Eiffel Tower, visited by roughly seven million people a year and jointly owned by the city of Paris, has faced years of separate financial and labor disputes under SETE's management, but rarely one that drew this level of political attention. It is not yet known who will succeed Branco Ruivo or whether SETE will change its policies for hosting private group visits.
