Eiffel Tower female staff told to 'make themselves invisible' for Hindu group's visit
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Eiffel Tower female staff told to 'make themselves invisible' for Hindu group's visit")
Eiffel Tower officials replaced women with men for the religious group's visit.
A religious group from India was in Paris for the inauguration of a temple, and they also visited the Eiffel Tower. They reportedly demanded that interaction with female staff be limited, after which the women were replaced by men.
The Eiffel Tower authorities have said that the female staff were asked to move and put men in their places for the visit of an Indian group over the weekend. The staff went on strike on Monday to register their anger at the bizarre demand. Nearly 100 people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) group visited the monument on Saturday. According to staff union representative Diane Davoine, women were told to move from their positions.
"During the visit of this delegation, women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there," she told Reuters, adding that the management has apologised to them for the incident. The representatives of this group were in France for the inauguration of a Hindu temple in the Paris suburbs.
Group allegedly asked for limited interaction with women
According to the female staff, the management told them to "make themselves invisible" before the group arrived and male staff were put in their places. Reports suggest that the group had specifically demanded that "interactions with women" be limited at the Eiffel Tower when they came. Meanwhile, SETE, the operating company, has said: "these conditions should not have been accepted".
The women were left feeling humiliated and shocked by the request. "That absolutely does not go down well with the employees, with women obviously, who are all humiliated by what happened, by the way some were treated," Davoine said. They organised a meeting on Monday to ensure the women are never treated this way again.
Eiffel Tower operating company reacts
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SETE said it was ready for any consequences and admitted that the demand was "not in line with SETE's values, nor the principles of equality between men and women". SETE president Ariel Weil said, "It is clearly not an acceptable practice. I restate the Eiffel Tower's commitment to republican values and to the equality of men and women."
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire has announced that an investigation will be launched into the incident. French equality minister Aurore Berge slammed the absurd request and wrote in a post on X, "In France, we do not ask women to erase themselves. No dogma, no religion is above the laws of the Republic."
