The head of the company operating the Eiffel Tower will leave at the end of the year following a controversy over the removal of female employees during a visit by a Hindu religious group.
Patrick Branco Ruivo, director general of Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, or SETE, since 2018, announced his departure on Tuesday.
SETE said an internal investigation had found “operational flaws and shortcomings” in the planning of the visit which led to the exclusion of female staff.
The controversy erupted after a delegation from Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, commonly known as BAPS, visited the monument in early September. BAPS is a Hindu group with close ties to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
The delegation of about 100 people was in France to celebrate the opening of the first BAPS temple near Paris.
Afterwards, female employees said they had been instructed to stay away from parts of the monument while the delegation was there. Some were removed from their posts and replaced by male colleagues.
A statement released by Eiffel Tower staff said the instructions resulted in “female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex” during the visit.
“Some were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to other areas. In some posts they were replaced by men,” it added. “And all female employees were instructed not to go through or cross certain areas while the delegation was present.”
SETE later acknowledged the delegation had asked to limit “interactions with women”.
The company said “these conditions should not have been accepted”.
En France, nous n’accepterons jamais que la présence des femmes soit « limitée ».
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) September 7, 2026
Toute la lumière doit été faite sur ce qui s’est passé lors de cette visite de la Tour Eiffel. https://t.co/rxdGKHjhfQ
The incident led to Eiffel Tower staff staging a one-day strike on 7 September. The monument was closed as a result.
The incident drew widespread condemnation from political figures in France. Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire described the decision to remove female employees as an “absurd, unjust and unacceptable decision” and ordered two investigations.
“It is not acceptable that such conditions can be tolerated. These are neither my values, nor those that the Eiffel Tower should uphold, where everyone – regardless of gender – should be able to move about and act freely, without distinction between women and men,” she said.
Je prends connaissance du mouvement de colère des salarié·es de la tour Eiffel et je veux leur dire que leur mécontentement est légitime.
— Emmanuel Grégoire (@egregoire) September 7, 2026
Il n’est pas acceptable que de telles conditions puissent être tolérées. Ce ne sont ni mes valeurs, ni celles que doit porter la tour Eiffel,… https://t.co/3srttJpxPo
Marine Le Pen, the far-right frontrunner in next year’s presidential election, said that “in France, we will never accept the presence of women being ‘limited’”.
National Assembly president Yael Braun-Pivet also criticised the move. “I refuse to allow women to be compelled to step aside in order to meet the demands of foreign visitors.”
BAPS apologised “for any pain or inconvenience caused” by the incident and maintained that it believed in “the universal values of mutual respect and service”. The group operates temples in several major cities around the world.
Nous comprenons les préoccupations exprimées et les prenons très au sérieux.
— BAPS Mandir Swaminarayan Hindou de Paris (@BAPSParis) September 7, 2026
Compte tenu de la taille de notre délégation, la visite a été organisée en coordination avec les équipes de la tour Eiffel, au début des horaires habituels d’ouverture, afin de limiter autant que… pic.twitter.com/gyiwzmh6Jv
BAPS had reportedly made the request to limit “interactions with women” because the delegation included several monks, including the group’s 93-year-old spiritual leader, Mahant Swami Maharaj, whose religious vows forbid contact with women.
BAPS said in a statement to that the group “never requested that female employees be hidden, removed or excluded from the visit”.
“The religious practices of our monks were explained to the Eiffel Tower's management in advance,” the group told the Associated Press. “These are personal spiritual commitments, which our monks observe without seeking to impose them on others.
“They do not require women to be excluded from the places they visit,” the statement said. The group did not elaborate on what the monks' practices are.
Ariel Weil, the mayor of Paris Centre who serves as the chair of SETE, said he had asked for a “dedicated protocol department” at the company, along with new measures and training programmes aimed at promoting gender equality.
“The coming months will allow us to prepare for the leadership transition under the best possible conditions,” Mr Weil said.
The Eiffel Tower is owned by the city of Paris and attracts about seven million visitors every year.
Mr Ruivo, who previously worked as an adviser to former Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, became the director general of SETE in November 2018. He will remain in the role until the end of 2026.
