The Eiffel Tower was closed Monday after employees went on strike over the dismissal of female employees for attending a Hindu religious group, workers and management said.
A delegation of around 100 people associated with the Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) group visited the landmark in the French capital on Saturday.
Employees’ union representative Diane Davoine says that when they approached the monument, the women were told to move.
“During this delegation’s visit, women were asked to leave their places of work to accommodate men,” she told Reuters. Davoine also said management has since apologized to workers for the incident.
“So this is absolutely not going well with the workers, especially the women, who are all humiliated by what happened, judging by the way some were treated,” Davoine said.
She added: “Tensions rose over the weekend so staff decided to meet this morning, firstly to open a dialogue with management and secondly to ensure that women in the company are never treated in this way again.”
The Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), which manages the monument in Paris, confirmed that the delegation had asked for the visit to limit “interaction with women”, AFP reported.
The firm told AFP that “these terms should not have been accepted.”
They added that they are “not consistent with SETE values or the principles of equality between men and women.”
SETE President Ariel Weil said: “This is clearly unacceptable practice.
“I reiterate the Eiffel Tower’s commitment to republican values and gender equality.”
The BBC has contacted the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) for a response.