Eiffel Tower Operator’s Chief to Step Down After Uproar Over Removal of Women Staff During Religious Group’s Visit

Paris: The company that operates the Eiffel Tower announced Tuesday that its director general, Patrick Branco Ruivo, will step down at the end of the year, following a controversy over the removal of women staff during a visit by a Hindu religious group.

The incident occurred on September 5 during a visit by around 100 people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a Hindu spiritual movement that had opened its first major temple near Paris that same weekend. Female employees were asked to leave their posts and were replaced by male colleagues, reportedly to accommodate the delegation's request to limit interactions with women. The move triggered a staff walkout and forced the closure of the monument for a day, alongside an outcry across France's political spectrum, a country that places strong emphasis on secularism and gender equality.

Following an internal probe, the operating company, SETE, said "operational flaws and shortcomings" in organising the visit had led to what it called the "unacceptable" removal of women staff, and confirmed these conditions should never have been accepted in the first place. Paris's mayor separately ordered further investigations into the episode and acknowledged Branco Ruivo's decision to step down, commending his tenure at the monument since his appointment in 2018.

The controversy drew condemnation from senior French politicians, including the president of the National Assembly, who said women should never be made to step aside to satisfy the demands of foreign visitors.