Eiffel Tower reopens after protest over removing women staff

The Eiffel Tower resumed operations after female staff walked out in protest over how management handled a Saturday visit by a Hindu religious delegation. The delegation had requested that interactions with women be minimized during their visit, and the operating company SETE accommodated this request by reorganizing staffing arrangements for that day.According to staff statements, the implementation of this accommodation was substantial. Female employees were instructed to vacate their positions temporarily, with male colleagues taking their places in certain roles. Some women were directed to avoid specific areas of the monument entirely while the delegation was present. This systematic removal of women from public-facing and operational roles sparked immediate backlash from the workforce.The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, the spiritual organization behind the visit, later stated that they did not prevent anyone from accessing the tower and characterized the visit as arranged to avoid disrupting general operations given the delegation's size. However, this explanation did not address staff concerns about the gender-based reassignments.The incident prompted swift political attention. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire indicated that an official investigation would commence promptly, while emphasizing his support for the employees' grievances. Yael Braun-Pivet, president of France's National Assembly, issued a social media statement asserting that accommodating visitors should never entail compromising French values regarding women's full participation in public life. These responses reflect broader concerns about how religious accommodation requests are evaluated and implemented in secular public institutions.