Explainer: Hindu Group BAPS and the Eiffel Tower Closure
The Eiffel Tower temporarily closed after staff protested the sidelining of female employees during a private visit by the BAPS Hindu group. The group's monks practice strict celibacy, leading to requests to limit interactions with women. The tower's operator acknowledged the conditions should not have been accepted, and an investigation is underway.
Established in India in 1907, BAPS began international expansion in the 1960s. It now operates more than a thousand temples and cultural centers worldwide, including one in Paris, and focuses on community projects such as disaster relief and education programs.
The tower's operator, SETE, acknowledged the conditions should not have been accepted. Staff unions reported female employees were sidelined or replaced by men. French officials, including the gender equality minister, asserted that republican law supersedes religious doctrine. BAPS apologized, asserting that access was never denied to anyone.
This incident could deepen tensions between France's strict secular principles and religious accommodation requests. It may affect how private venues handle similar requests from religious groups, potentially leading to clearer guidelines on gender-based staffing. For female employees, it highlights workplace dignity concerns. The public may see a shift in how cultural sensitivities are balanced against republican equality laws, possibly influencing future policy debates on religious expression in public spaces.