A visit by a prominent Hindu organisation to the Eiffel Tower has triggered controversy in France after female workers alleged they were removed from certain posts and replaced by male colleagues to accommodate the delegation.
Members of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) visited the Paris landmark on Saturday. Two days later, Eiffel Tower employees staged a walkout over the incident, forcing the monument to close on Monday before reopening on Tuesday.
France’s CGT trade union alleged that female employees and contractors were instructed not to enter or pass through particular sections of the tower while the BAPS delegation was present. According to the union, some women were moved from their normal workstations while male employees took their places.
Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), which operates the landmark, acknowledged that the visiting delegation had sought arrangements designed to limit “interactions with women.” The operator subsequently conceded that such conditions “should not have been accepted.”
BAPS has rejected suggestions that it sought to discriminate against female employees. The organization said arrangements had been coordinated with Eiffel Tower management because of the delegation’s size and were “never, at any point, intended as a request rooted in gender.”
BAPS added that, to its knowledge, nobody had been prevented from accessing the monument and said the organization remained committed to equality and mutual respect.
The controversy coincided with the inauguration on Sunday of a new BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges, east of Paris. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the ceremony remotely.
Founded in India in 1907 and headquartered in Gujarat, BAPS is an international Hindu organization belonging to the Swaminarayan tradition. It has more than one million followers and says it operates in more than 20 countries.
The organisation is particularly known for constructing elaborate Hindu temples and cultural complexes. Its major sites include Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi and large complexes in New Jersey, London and Abu Dhabi. Its activities are primarily supported through donations and contributions from followers.
The allegations at the Eiffel Tower have attracted particular attention in France because of the country’s strong secular republican tradition and longstanding emphasis on equality between men and women.
French Minister for Gender Equality and the Fight Against Discrimination Aurore Bergé said there could be no cultural or religious exception to that principle.
“In France, gender equality is neither negotiable nor subject to varying standards,” Bergé said. “It is a principle, and there are no exceptions to it.”
National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet also criticized the reported arrangements, arguing that accommodating visitors could not come at the expense of women participating fully in public life.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said the circumstances surrounding the incident would be investigated.
The Indian government, meanwhile, has distanced itself from the dispute. External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said on Tuesday that the Eiffel Tower controversy was “a matter purely between the entities concerned.”
Image credit: Timelab
Investigate?
For as ever as long as it takes to go away
If the hairy armpit women can’t handle the curry heat, they should go back in the kitchen.
I don’t care who you are when you visit someone else’s country you should never be allowed to demand rubbish like this. This is why some individuals, and their stone age beliefs should never be allowed to leave their own country. Giving in to rubbish like this is part of what is killing the western world.
Coming to a town near you….