The Iron Lady will soon have a new director. Weakened since female staff were sidelined during a visit by a Hindu religious group in early September, the chief executive of the Eiffel Tower operating company (SETE), Patrick Branco Ruivo, announced on Tuesday 29 September that he will leave his post at the end of the year.
His position, at the head of SETE since 2018, had been severely undermined after female employees were excluded during a visit in early September by members of the ultra‑conservative Hindu movement Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha.
The decision to keep women working at the monument away from the visitors sparked a strike by Eiffel Tower staff and led to the closure, on 7 September, of the capital’s most iconic landmark for the entire day. “Some [female employees] were asked to leave their posts and to withdraw to other rooms”, workers said in a statement.
Two investigations have since been carried out, at the initiative of the mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire. The internal inquiry “brought to light a series of malfunctions and shortcomings in the organisation of protocol visits”, which “resulted in the exclusion of female staff on the day of the visit, an unacceptable situation”, the Eiffel Tower operating company said in a statement released on Tuesday.
Among the most visited sites in Paris, the Eiffel Tower has 402 employees, welcomes 6.7 million visitors a year and generates a turnover of 156 million euros. Responsible for managing the monument, SETE is a local public entity owned 99% by the City of Paris and 1% by the Greater Paris Metropolis.