Probe by Paris body found no request by Hindu group to remove women staff from Eiffel Tower: BAPS

A Hindu religious group whose visit to the Eiffel Tower last month triggered a controversy said on Thursday that an investigation had established that it did not ask for women staff to be removed from the Paris landmark.

The statement came after the General Inspectorate of the City of Paris found that there had been “no explicit request” from the delegation to remove women, AFP reported.

On September 7, staff at the monument went on a brief strike to protest the removal of women colleagues during the BAPS delegation visit, two days earlier.

The removal of the women staff sparked criticism from French politicians across the political spectrum, who said the country’s commitment to gender equality was non-negotiable.

On Tuesday, the company that manages the Eiffel Tower said its chief would step down in the wake of the controversy.

Patrick Branco Ruivo will leave his role at the end of the year after an internal probe found “operational flaws and shortcomings” in organising the visit that had led to the “unacceptable” removal of women staff.

Eiffel Tower employees had alleged that “workplace instructions led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and rendered invisible on the basis of their gender” during the delegation’s visit, PTI reported.

At the time, BAPS Paris said that it respected “the concerns raised” and took them “very seriously”. The group said that, to the...

Read more