look news india
Paris’s world famous Eiffel Tower has once again come into international headlines, but this time the reason is not a tourism record but a serious administrative and gender dispute. Patrick Branco Ruivo, Director General of ‘Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel’ (SETE), the company responsible for the operation of this iconic monument located in Paris, the capital of France, has lost his post. The company has officially announced that Ruivo will leave his post by the end of 2026. This whole incident started in the beginning of September when a delegation of about 100 people associated with Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) had visited the Eiffel Tower. During this visit, a serious issue of removal of women employees from their fixed workplaces in the name of security and management arrangements came to light, after which there was a huge uproar in the labor unions and political circles of France.
Allegation of removal of women employees during the visit of BAPS delegation
According to the information received, the BAPS organization had come to France in connection with the inauguration ceremony of a grand and traditional Hindu stone temple built near Paris. As part of this religious and cultural festival, on September 5, a large delegation associated with the organization had come to visit the Eiffel Tower. The allegation was that during the movement of this VIP delegation, the female employees posted at the tower were instructed to move from their workstations and at some places, male employees were deployed in their place. Not only this, the women staff were also instructed not to pass through the delegation’s fixed route or nearby premises. After this incident came to light, the internal union and women employees of the Eiffel Tower termed it a direct attack on their self-respect and rights to gender equality, which spread immense anger among the employees working there.
The work of the Eiffel Tower was halted due to the strike of the employees.
The seriousness of the matter increased further when on September 7, the employees of the Eiffel Tower suddenly stopped work (walkout) against this undemocratic and discriminatory attitude and started a strong protest. Due to this strict attitude of the employees, this largest and popular tourist destination of the world suddenly had to be closed for a whole day. The tourists were disappointed and the main gate of the tower had to be locked. Seeing the urgency of the situation, the Paris administration and the government of Mayor Anne Hidalgo immediately ordered an independent internal investigation into this entire matter. It was clearly revealed in the report of the inquiry committee that there were huge shortcomings at the planning and operational level of the tour, due to which the women employees were removed from their posts. The company itself admitted that accepting such conditions and instructions was a big mistake of the management.
Cleanliness of BAPS organization and new step of the company
On the other hand, there was also a reaction from the BAPS organization on this entire controversy. The organization said that due to the coming together of a large number of people, there should be minimum inconvenience to the tourists and general staff, hence coordination with the management was done under common etiquette. The organization clarified that their intention was not to hurt any kind of gender sentiment or spread discrimination and if this entire process has caused any mental distress or inconvenience to anyone, they express deep regret for the same. However, this high-profile controversy has sparked a long debate in European countries about gender equality and administrative transparency in the workplace. SETE management has now announced to implement strict guidelines and gender equality training program for such events in future, so that such mistakes are never repeated again.