The head of the operator of the Eiffel tower will leave the post because of the gender scandal
The investigation revealed irregularities during the visit of the Hindu group BAPS, which excluded employees of the Eiffel Tower from serving the delegation. The company called the situation “unacceptable”
Patrick Branco Ruvo, CEO of SETE, which operates the Eiffel Tower, will leave the post at the end of the year, the Associated Press reports, citing a statement from the company.
Ruvo has led SETE since late 2018. The reason for the resignation is the results of an internal review of his decision to remove female employees from the tower during a visit by representatives of the religious Hindu organization Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) on September 5. The investigation revealed a number of irregularities in the organization of the delegation's visit, which led to the fact that employees of the Eiffel Tower were excluded from the BAPS delegation.
BAPS is an international religious and social organization associated with the Swaminarayan Hindu sect. The group was in Paris in connection with the opening of a traditional Hindu stone temple.
SETE called the incident an "unacceptable situation." The company's chairman, Ariel Weil, said he had commissioned measures and training programs to promote gender equality.
BAPS told the AP that the decision to limit female employees’ contact with the delegation was purely for organizational and logistical reasons.
“This coordination was carried out exclusively within the framework of organizational courtesy and logistics to ensure that a large group could visit without any inconvenience to the tower staff or visitors. At no point was this a request based on gender, the organization said.
The Eiffel Tower receives about 7 million visitors annually. On September 7, it was closed due to a strike by employees protesting against the instructions of the management to “limit interactions with women”, which caused the monument to not receive visitors all day. The next day, the Eiffel Tower reopened.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire backed the protesters and also promised to launch an investigation. “Equality between women and men will never stop at the foot of our historic monuments, nor anywhere else in this city. It must be respected everywhere, for everyone, for women and men alike, he wrote in X.
In February 2024, the tower was also closed for six days due to a strike by workers demanding better maintenance and higher wages.
