Eiffel Tower director to resign after female staff sidelined

Patrick Branco Ruivo, the director general of the Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), has announced he will step down by the end of the year following a controversy regarding the treatment of female staff. The incident occurred during a private tour on September 5 by a delegation from the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a global Hindu religious organization.

Reports indicated that female employees were sidelined, moved to different areas, or replaced by men to limit interactions with the delegation. While Branco Ruivo denied issuing instructions to specifically sideline women, he expressed regret that they were indeed sidelined and noted that an internal investigation uncovered “a series of dysfunctions and failures” in protocol organization.

A probe by the General Inspectorate of the City of Paris found that the BAPS delegation did not make an explicit request to exclude female employees from the entire visitor route. BAPS has denied requesting that female staff be treated differently based on gender, citing logistical reasons related to the size of the group. The controversy previously led to a one-day strike by the CGT trade union, which forced the landmark to close.