Overview
- Investigators reported on Oct. 2 that the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam (BAPS) delegation did not make any explicit request to remove female Eiffel Tower staff during its visit on Sept. 5.
- The probe found that an accommodation about avoiding physical contact was progressively translated, by word-of-mouth and local decisions, into assigning men to posts and replacing or sidelining women workers.
- Eiffel Tower employees staged a CGT-led strike that closed the monument for a day on Sept. 7 after staff said women were temporarily asked to leave reception points and elevator duties during the visit.
- SETE’s internal review and the inspectorate flagged operational failures in planning and communicating the visit, and SETE confirmed director-general Patrick Branco Ruivo will step down at the end of the year.
- The episode has prompted municipal and administrative probes, union demands and commitments to new protocols, gender-equality training and clearer rules for handling private or religious visits at public sites.