Eiffel Tower chief to step down after exclusion of female staff during Hindu delegation visit

The head of the company operating the Eiffel Tower will step down at the end of the year following an investigation into the exclusion of female staff during a visit by a Hindu religious group.

Patrick Branco Ruivo, director general of the Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel, will leave his post after an independent investigation found several operational failures linked to the group’s September 5 visit.

The company said on Tuesday that the failures resulted in female employees being excluded from the visit, describing the situation as “unacceptable”. Ruivo has led the company since late 2018.

The 330-metre (1,083-foot) Eiffel Tower, which attracts around 7 million visitors annually, was closed on September 7 after employees went on strike. A union official said the strike was triggered by “unacceptable” management instructions.

Tensions escalated after management instructed employees that female workers should not have contact with members of the visiting delegation from Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, known as BAPS.

BAPS is a global religious and civic organisation within the Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism. The group was in Paris to celebrate the inauguration of a traditional Hindu stone temple in the Paris region.

BAPS told The Associated Press that it “never requested that female employees be hidden, removed or excluded from the visit”.

The group said its monks’ religious practices had been explained to Eiffel Tower management beforehand and were personal commitments that did not require women to be excluded from places they visited. It did not provide details about those practices.

Ariel Weil, chair of the Eiffel Tower operating company, said on Tuesday that he had ordered measures and training programmes aimed at promoting gender equality.

The 137-year-old landmark has faced closures over labour disputes before. It was closed for six days in February 2024 after employees went on strike over maintenance concerns and demands for higher wages.