Who pays does not command (always)
On September 7th, the workers of the Eiffel Tower went on strike and the most iconic monument in Paris was closed all day. Two days earlier, a delegation from an ultra-conservative Hindu group had requested to visit the Tower without any female staff. The request was accepted by the management, who removed the women, and in protest, the workers decided to strike two days later. With less than a month having passed since the events, Patrick Branco Ruivo, the general manager of the company that manages the Eiffel Tower, has announced that he will leave his position at the end of the year. The decision to exclude women was the deciding factor in his resignation, but other resolutions by Branco had also been previously questioned. Giving in to sexism was the final straw and has brought to the table a very interesting debate about the rights of customers and the obligations of companies. About respect for culture and ideology, and human rights.
It is evident that the person in charge of the Eiffel Tower, from the start, could not accept the request of a group, wherever it came from, that explicitly asked to remove women because their religion, culture, or any anachronistic and fossilized excuse does not allow them to interact, look at them, or be in the same space as them. If that is the case, the group cannot visit the Eiffel Tower or any place where women have the whim of being, the habit of moving freely. It is evident that everyone can think what they want and it is obviously regrettable that there is still such a large part of the world that continues to consider women as second-class citizens, who are meant to be married or raped, but not to work at what they want, nor to dress, nor to show their hair, nor to speak or interact with whomever they feel like. It is extremely sad and prehistoric that there is still such a large part of the world that continues to push women aside and demand that others do the same. It is heartbreaking to see that there are still those who do not question certain demands and comply with them. Because he who pays, commands.
Well, whoever pays does not always call the shots. Because, precisely, we women have been paying a very high price for centuries, and to arrive at the events of the Eiffel Tower, in which a disastrous decision ends in a strike and the resignation of the person responsible, is a victory that should not go unnoticed. A victory of freedom against sexist authoritarianism. A victory for society in general. Why, who wants to live in a world where women are pushed aside at convenience? Who wants to live in a world in which everything has a price and the price is going back centuries?
Wrong decisions are still being made. Many. But the good news is that now, the price is not always paid by the same people. Because not everything is respectable. This means that retrograde stances that hack away at human rights with a checkbook should not be respected and must be pointed out. For when they tell us that all is lost. We will always have Paris.