PARIS: The head of the company operating the iconic Eiffel Tower is set to step down by the end of the year following a high-profile internal investigation into the controversial exclusion of female employees during a religious delegation's visit.

Patrick Branco Ruivo, director general of the Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) since 2018, will leave his post after a probe revealed "operational flaws and shortcomings" that led to the "unacceptable" removal of female staff.

The controversy erupted following a September 5 visit by a 100-member private delegation linked to the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), who toured the 330-meter landmark. According to labor unions, female employees were instructed to step away from their workstations, hide from certain areas, or were replaced by male colleagues because the delegation requested limited interactions with women.

The incident sparked immediate outrage among monument workers, triggering a staff strike that temporarily shut down the world-famous Parisian landmark. Staff condemned the directives as a severe violation of professional dignity that made female employees "invisible because of their sex".

SETE ultimately acknowledged that the delegation's restrictive conditions "should not have been accepted". Paris City Hall and company management both issued apologies, admitting the decision ran contrary to France's core republican values of gender equality. In the wake of the independent investigation, SETE announced leadership changes alongside mandatory gender-equality training programs to ensure the landmark strictly upholds workplace inclusivity.