A delegation of about 100 people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) visited the Paris landmark on Saturday. The visit took place on the same day as a cultural boat procession on the Seine organised by the group.
According to SETE, instructions were given to female employees of the Eiffel Tower and female employees of contractors to make themselves invisible while the delegation was being welcomed. SETE said employees were shocked to have been placed in such a situation.
“Some were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to other areas. In some posts they were replaced by men. And all female employees were instructed not to go through or cross certain areas while the delegation was present,” SETE said in its statement.
SETE said such “conditions should not have been accepted” and were not in line with its values or France’s principle of equality between men and women.
SETE president Ariel Weil called the arrangement unacceptable and reaffirmed the Eiffel Tower’s commitment to equality.
“I restate the Eiffel Tower’s commitment to republican values and to the equality of men and women,” Weil said.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire also criticised the decision, calling it unacceptable that management had agreed to the delegation’s conditions. He said an investigation would be launched.
The Eiffel Tower, which receives nearly seven million visitors a year, remained closed throughout Monday and was expected to reopen on Tuesday.
BAPS, whose representatives were in France for events linked to the inauguration of a Hindu temple near Paris, said it took the concerns raised over the Eiffel Tower visit “very seriously”.
The organisation said the visit was arranged with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours because of the size of its delegation. The aim, it said, was to “limit as much as possible any disruption for other visitors”.
“To our knowledge, at no time was access to the Eiffel Tower denied to anyone,” BAPS said in its statement.
“Nevertheless, we wish to offer our sincere apologies to anyone who may have been hurt or inconvenienced by this situation,” it added, stressing its commitment to the “universal values of mutual respect and service to others”.
The incident has triggered criticism across France, with politicians from different sides of the political spectrum speaking out.
Equality Minister Aurore Berge said women in France should not be asked to “erase themselves” and stressed that no religion or doctrine was above the laws of the Republic.
“In France, we do not ask women to erase themselves. No dogma, no religion is above the laws of the Republic,” she wrote.
Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said France would not accept restrictions on women’s presence.
The closure and political criticism have placed the arrangements made for the private BAPS delegation at the centre of a wider dispute over equality and the conditions imposed during the Eiffel Tower visit.
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