France

Eiffel Tower Closes After Female Staff Removed For Hindu Group Visit

Was the Eiffel Tower visit plain discrimination against female staff, or just the coordination of a 100-person group?

Published SEP 8

#France

Eiffel Tower Closes After Female Staff Removed For Hindu Group Visit

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Above: BAPS monks take part in a religious ceremony in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Sept. 3. Image credit: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Narrative A

A group that preaches women's empowerment at home cannot demand that women vanish from a workplace abroad. Asking female staff at the Eiffel Tower to make themselves invisible so a guru need not see them is plain discrimination in the name of religious practice, and no monument should ever be asked to do so. The strike that shut the tower was the only fitting answer.

Arnaud Bertrand on X

Rajdeep Sardesai on X

Narrative B

Blame belongs with the Eiffel Tower's operator. SETE admitted it accepted conditions limiting interactions with women that clashed with its values and the principle of equality, and Paris authorities are right to investigate how such a request was ever approved. The accountability has to land on the managers who said yes.

Nabila Jamal on X

Suhasini Haidar on X

Jordan Bardella on X

Narrative C

BAPS is taking the concerns seriously, but with a group of 100, some coordination with staff was needed just to keep the visit from disrupting others. No one was denied entry, and they've since apologized for any hurt caused.

BAPS Mandir Swaminarayan Hindou de Paris on X