Staff Reports
The Eiffel Tower briefly closed this week after workers walked off the job in protest. Female staffers say they were told to “make themselves invisible” while a private delegation from the Hindu group BAPS toured the monument. Management at the tower’s operator, SETE, confirmed the request and apologized, and Paris officials opened an investigation. This was not a cultural misunderstanding — it was a breach of the rules that protect women in public life.
What happened at the Eiffel Tower and the strike
Around 100 members of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) visited the Eiffel Tower at the start of opening hours. Staff say female employees were asked to step aside or be replaced by men so the delegation would have “limited interactions with women.” When tower workers learned of this, unions and staff staged a one-day strike that forced the monument to close on Monday. The tower reopened the next morning after SETE apologized and Paris officials launched an inquiry.
Why this is about values, not tourism
This is not about shutting down private visits or about being hostile to religion. It is about enforcing the basic rule of republican France: women must not be made invisible in public spaces. Ministers and political leaders from across the French spectrum rightly condemned the arrangement. The government’s message is blunt and simple: no culture or belief can dictate that women erase themselves in our public monuments.
Where the blame lies — and what must follow
SETE acknowledged the request and said it should never have been accepted. That admission is not enough. Management must explain who approved the concession and why a public-facing company running a national landmark allowed the delegation to treat female employees as an inconvenience. Ariel Weil, the president at SETE, called the practice unacceptable — now he and his board must show concrete discipline and new rules so this never repeats.
Worker dignity and the strike that taught a lesson
The staff and unions did the right thing by refusing to accept humiliation. Diane Davoine and other union reps were right to raise their voices and to close the Tower until the matter received attention. If private visitors expect exceptions to France’s equality laws, they should be turned away. The people who run our national monuments must defend workers and the Republic, not make moral compromises for a photo op.
Paris’s investigation should be swift and public. SETE must publish a full account of approvals and fixes. BAPS has apologized, which is welcome, but apologies don’t fix policy or protect workers. If France is serious about equality, it should use this episode to tighten rules for private visits and to make clear that the Eiffel Tower — symbol of the Republic — will not play host to anything that tells women to step aside. That’s not hospitality. It’s surrender.
