The chief executive of the company that runs the Eiffel Tower will step down after a backlash over female staff being replaced by male colleagues during a visit by a Hindu religious group.
Patrick Branco Ruivo will leave his job at the end of the year, the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (Sete) announced in a statement on Tuesday.
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It follows an internal inquiry into why the tower’s management ordered female staff to keep out of sight during a visit by the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) spiritual movement earlier in September, a decision that sparked a staff strike and caused widespread outrage.
In a statement, Sete said the investigation had “uncovered a series of problems and shortcomings in the planning of official visits and the organisation of the 5 September visit, which led to the exclusion of female staff on the day of the visit”. It added that this had created “an unacceptable situation”.
The exclusion prompted a one-day strike by staff, forcing the monument to close. In a statement at the time, tower employees denounced “workplace policies that have led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and rendered invisible because of their sex”.
“Some were asked to leave their posts and wait in separate rooms. In some posts, women were replaced by men. All female employees were instructed not to pass through or enter certain areas while the [Hindu] delegation was present,” they wrote.
Staff said they were shocked to find themselves in a situation so “deeply contrary to the values of equality and nondiscrimination”.
“The Eiffel Tower is the symbol of France. We believe it must also be exemplary in the values it promotes and the way it treats staff,” they added.
Sete admitted the BAPS delegation had requested that “interactions with women” be limited. It added: “These conditions should not have been accepted.” BAPS has subsequently apologised for “any pain or inconvenience caused” by the incident.
City hall, which oversees the operation of the Paris landmark, also apologised for failing to observe France’s republican principle of equality.