The chief executive of the company that operates the Eiffel Tower is to step down following a backlash over female staff being replaced by male colleagues during a visit by a Hindu religious group.

Patrick Branco Ruivo, who has served as director general of the Paris landmark since 2018, will leave his post at the end of the year, the operating company SETE announced in a statement.

An internal investigation found that "operational flaws and shortcomings" in organising the visit led to the "unacceptable" removal of female staff.

The incident occurred earlier this month when a delegation of around 100 people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, known as BAPS, visited the tower. BAPS is a Hindu movement whose beliefs originate in the 18th century and which strictly separates men and women, including in temple activities and building entrances.

SETE said the delegation had requested that the visit be organised so as to limit "interactions with women," adding that "these conditions should not have been accepted."

A staff union representative said "women were asked to leave their places of work" and felt "humiliated." Female employees were also reportedly "instructed not to go through or cross certain areas while the delegation was present."

The visit prompted a staff strike and the temporary closure of the tower. Politicians across France condemned the incident.

Yaël Braun-Pivet, the president of France's National Assembly, said: "I refuse to allow women to be compelled to step aside in order to meet the demands of foreign visitors."

The Socialist mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire, called it an "absurd, unjust and unacceptable decision" and ordered two separate investigations.

SETE chair Ariel Weil said on Tuesday that he had requested measures and training programmes promoting gender equality to be implemented.

"The coming months will allow us to prepare for the leadership transition under the best possible conditions," Weil said.