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The head of the company that manages the Eiffel Tower is to leave his post at the end of the year, following widespread criticism over the removal of female employees during a visit by a Hindu religious delegation earlier this month, the operating company has confirmed.
Patrick Branco Ruivo, who has served as director general of the Paris monument since 2018, will depart from his role, SETE announced in a statement on Tuesday. The decision comes after an internal inquiry uncovered serious organisational failures that resulted in what the company described as the "unacceptable" sidelining of women on its staff.
According to SETE, the investigation determined that "operational flaws and shortcomings" in the planning of the visit allowed female workers to be replaced by male colleagues. The company had previously stated that the delegation had asked for the tour to be arranged in a way that would minimise "interactions with women," and acknowledged that those conditions should never have been agreed to.
The visit involved roughly 100 people associated with the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, a Hindu movement whose traditions date back to the 18th Century. The group was in Paris to open a new temple, and the Eiffel Tower stop was part of that trip.
BAPS observes a strict separation between men and women, a practice that extends to temple activities and the entrances used at its buildings. The organisation maintains that this segregation was introduced for the benefit of women, though its critics argue that such 18th-Century customs have no place in contemporary society and that excluding women on religious grounds amounts to discrimination.
The incident provoked a strong reaction from employees at the landmark. A staff union representative said female workers were told to leave their posts and described them as feeling humiliated. Other workers reported that women were also instructed not to pass through or cross certain parts of the tower while the delegation was on site.
Outrage among the workforce escalated into industrial action, with staff walking out on strike and the tower closing to visitors as a result. The closure drew further public attention to the controversy and amplified calls for accountability.
Politicians across the spectrum also condemned the arrangement. Yaël Braun-Pivet, the president of France's National Assembly, said she would not accept women being forced to step aside in order to accommodate the demands of foreign visitors. Emmanuel Gregoire, the Socialist mayor of Paris, described the decision as absurd, unjust and unacceptable, and ordered two separate investigations into how the situation had been allowed to occur.
In its own response, BAPS apologised earlier this month "for any pain or inconvenience caused," adding that the group believes in the universal values of mutual respect and service. On its website, BAPS presents itself as a spiritual, volunteer-driven fellowship dedicated to improving society through Hindu values, and it operates temples in major cities around the world, including London, Los Angeles and Sydney.
The movement traces its beliefs to the teachings of Lord Swaminarayan, a late 18th-Century celibate ascetic whom followers regard as an incarnation of Vishnu, the Hindu god associated with preservation.
SETE chair Ariel Weil said on Tuesday that he had asked for measures and training programmes promoting gender equality to be put in place. He added that the months ahead would allow the organisation to prepare for a leadership transition under the best possible conditions.
The departure of Branco Ruivo marks a significant moment for the company that operates one of the world's most recognisable monuments, which draws millions of visitors each year and stands as a symbol of Paris and France. The controversy has raised broader questions about how major cultural institutions balance respect for religious customs with their legal and ethical obligations to their own employees.
The case has also fuelled an ongoing debate in France about secularism and gender equality. The country's strict separation of church and state, known as laïcité, has long been a sensitive subject, and the idea that a public-facing institution would adjust its workplace practices to accommodate a religious group's preferences has struck a nerve among many commentators and officials.
For SETE, the priority now will be restoring trust among its workforce and the public. The promised equality training and the leadership change are intended to signal a break from the practices that led to the incident, though the company will likely face continued scrutiny over how it handles similar requests in the future.
The tower has since reopened, but the episode remains a reminder of the pressures faced by institutions managing iconic sites, where operational decisions can quickly become matters of national debate. How SETE implements its pledged reforms, and who takes over the leadership, will be watched closely in the coming months.
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