Eiffel Tower closed after unhappy staff strike over treatment of female workers

The Eiffel Tower closed for the entire day on Monday after employees walked out over instructions that female staff should leave their posts during a visit by a Hindu delegation.

The delegation, numbering about 100 people and linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, visited the Paris landmark on Saturday, according to the BBC. Employee union representative Diane Davoine said women were told to leave when the group arrived.

“During the delegation’s visit, women were asked to leave their workstations to make room for men,” Davoine said. Employees condemned what they called work instructions that sidelined, replaced and made female workers invisible because of their gender.

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During the delegation’s visit, women were asked to leave their workstations to make room for men

In a statement, staff said some women were told to leave their posts and move to other areas. Men replaced women at some positions, while female employees were instructed not to pass through certain areas while the delegation was present.

The Eiffel Tower’s operating company, Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, confirmed that the delegation had requested arrangements limiting “interactions with women”. The company said “these conditions should not have been accepted” because they did not match its values or the principles of equality between men and women. It said it would accept the consequences.

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said on X that an investigation would be opened and that the employees’ anger was justified. The tower, which receives nearly seven million visitors a year, reopened as normal on Tuesday.

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these conditions should not have been accepted