Hindu group visit leaves Eiffel Tower in gender equality storm

The Eiffel Tower in Paris was closed on Monday, September 7, after employees went on strike over allegations that female staff were asked to leave their workstations during a visit by a Hindu religious delegation, triggering criticism from French political leaders and an investigation by city authorities.

Around 100 members of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a global Hindu organisation headquartered in Ahmedabad, India, visited the landmark on Saturday. BAPS describes itself as a “spiritual, volunteer-driven fellowship” dedicated to improving society through individual growth and promoting the Hindu values of faith, service and global harmony. The organisation inaugurated a new Hindu temple in Paris on Sunday.

Diane Davoine, a union representative for Eiffel Tower employees, said female workers had been instructed to leave their positions so that male colleagues could take their places.

“Women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there,” Davoine told reporters.

“So that absolutely does not go down well with the employees, with women obviously, who are all humiliated by what happened, by the way some were treated,” she said.

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said an investigation had been launched into the allegations.

“It is not acceptable that such conditions can be tolerated,” he wrote on X. “These are neither my values, nor those that the Eiffel Tower should uphold, where everyone should be able to move about and act freely, without distinction between women and men.”

The Eiffel Tower Operating Company, known as SETE, acknowledged that the delegation had requested that the visit be organized in a way that limited “interactions with women.” The company said such conditions should not have been accepted.

BAPS did not directly address the allegations concerning female employees in a statement on X. It said it took the concerns “very seriously” and that the visit had been arranged “in coordination with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours” in order to minimize disruption to other visitors.

“To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, we sincerely apologise for any pain or inconvenience caused.”

The dispute has prompted a broader debate in France, a country with a long history of feminist activism and a constitutional commitment to secularism whose ideological roots date to the French Revolution.

Over the past century, French feminist movements have campaigned successfully for women’s suffrage, reproductive rights and greater gender equality. In 2024, France became the first country in the world to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution.

Aurore Bergé, France’s minister for gender equality and the fight against discrimination, described the alleged incident at the Eiffel Tower as “unacceptable.”

“In France, gender equality is neither negotiable nor subject to varying standards. It is a principle, and there are no exceptions to it,” she wrote on X.

Thousands of Hindu devotees associated with BAPS have taken part in events and processions across France in recent days, according to the organization’s website.

Hinduism itself venerates femininity through the worship of powerful goddesses, including Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom; Kali, the goddess associated with the destruction of evil and ego; and Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

At the same time, debates over gender equality and entrenched misogyny within some Hindu religious and social practices have persisted, including disputes over women’s access to temples and participation in certain rituals.

In a landmark 2018 ruling, India’s Supreme Court struck down a centuries-old ban preventing women of menstruating age from entering the Sabarimala Temple in the southern state of Kerala, ruling that the restriction was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

By Tamilla Hasanova