PARIS, France (Diya TV) — A Paris city investigation found that a BAPS religious delegation made no explicit request to exclude female employees throughout its Eiffel Tower visit, according to a report summary obtained by Le Parisien.
The General Inspectorate of the City of Paris attributed the incident to a series of errors in interpretation, approval and execution. Its findings follow a staff protest over the removal or replacement of female workers during the private visit in September.
The initial request concerned avoiding physical contact between religious figures and women, according to the investigation. As staff passed instructions through the tower’s management structure, that request expanded into assigning men to positions and removing women already working there.
Reception and customer-relations employees were asked to leave temporarily during part of the visit. Another female employee was replaced in an elevator during the delegation’s descent, the report found.
BAPS France welcomed the findings Thursday and reiterated that it had never asked managers to hide, remove or exclude female employees. The organization also expressed concern for the affected workers.
The controversy prompted a staff strike that closed the Eiffel Tower. BAPS had previously said its monks’ spiritual commitments did not require women to be excluded from places they visited.
Separately, the tower’s operator, Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel, announced Tuesday that director general Patrick Branco Ruivo would leave at the end of the year. An independent review commissioned by the company identified operational failures that led to female employees’ exclusion, which SETE called unacceptable. Its chair, Ariel Weil, requested measures and training to promote gender equality.
Ruivo told employees he had never instructed staff to remove or replace women along the delegation’s route, Le Parisien reported.
