Employees of the Eiffel Tower in Paris have declared a strike in protest of a demand to replace female staff with men during a private visit by a Hindu group.
Modern.az reports that “France 24” published this information.
Due to the protest, the Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors on September 7.
France's CGT trade union stated that employees condemned the demands that led to women being removed from their jobs, transferred to other positions, and subjected to discrimination based on their gender.
“Some female employees were asked to leave their workplaces and move to another department. In some sections, they were replaced by men. Furthermore, all female employees were instructed not to pass through certain departments during the delegation's visit,” the trade union's statement noted.
SETE, the company that manages the Eiffel Tower, stated that the delegation wanted to “limit the interaction of guests with women” during the visit. The company also admitted that these conditions should not have been accepted.
SETE stated that what happened is not in line with the company's values and principles of equality between women and men. The company announced that all details of the incident will be investigated and its consequences determined.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire also expressed his support for the strike on the social network X. He called the exclusion of female employees “unacceptable.”
France's Minister for Gender Equality, Aurore Bergé, reacted strongly to the incident. She stated that women in France cannot be asked to “erase themselves, to be invisible,” and no religious dogma can be given a superior position to French law.
It should be noted that the Eiffel Tower, visited by approximately 7 million people each year, remained closed all day on September 7. A representative of the tower administration stated that it would resume its normal operations on September 8.
