Nothing less than the most emblematic monument of Paris and France, so proud of its freedoms and the defense of gender equality, has been the protagonist of a controversy over sexist conduct. The employees of the Eiffel Tower went on strike on Monday and prevented the opening of the monument, in protest against a private visit made on Saturday by a very conservative Hindu religious organization in which instructions were given to hide the female staff.
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“On the occasion of the visit of a delegation of about one hundred people, instructions were given to the female workers of the Eiffel Tower and those of the subcontracted companies to make themselves invisible in order to receive said delegation,” the workers detailed in a denunciation statement sent to the newspaper Le Parisien.
All women were ordered not to pass through certain areas while the delegation was present
According to those sources, some were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to separate rooms, and in some positions they were replaced by men. All women were ordered not to pass through certain areas while the delegation was present.
The controversial visit was made by the Hindu religious organization BAPS, known for its very conservative line, and in response the workers organized a general assembly to decide on the strike.
The employees considered that the instructions given violated French laws.
The president of the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE), Ariel Weil, spoke this Tuesday, in statements to the France Info radio station, of “overzealousness” on the part of some monument officials, and denied that neither he nor the general director had given the green light to the measure adopted.
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The mayor of the capital, Emmanuel Grégoire, calls the protest “legitimate” and emphasizes that equality must be respected throughout the city
The mayor of Paris, the socialist Emmanuel Grégoire, in a message on the X network, called the discontent expressed by the tower employees “legitimate.” “It is not acceptable that such conditions can be tolerated,” Gregoire emphasized. “They are neither my values nor those that the Eiffel Tower should embody, where everyone must be able to move freely, without distinction between women and men.” The mayor called for the incident to be fully clarified and insisted that “equality between men and women will never stop at the foot of our historic monuments or anywhere in the city.”
“I have personally informed the representatives of BAPS in France that such practices are contrary to the laws of the Republic,” commented Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île de France region (where Paris is located), in a message on the social network X, also declaring herself “shocked.”
Former prime minister and deputy for Paris Michel Barnier called the measures “unacceptable,” stating that he had asked SETE for explanations.
“In France, it is not customs from other places that dictate to women how they should dress or behave in public spaces. Women are not hidden. They are not made to disappear. They are respected and their freedom is defended,” Barnier emphasized.
The BAPS movement apologized, although it specified that “to our knowledge, at no time was anyone denied access to the Eiffel Tower.” “In any case, we would like to offer our sincere apologies to anyone who may have felt hurt or upset by this situation,” added the sect’s message, whose visit to the Eiffel Tower took place on the eve of the inauguration of the first temple in France, located in Bussy-Saint-Georges, in the Seine-et-Marne department, near Paris.
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