Story perspectives

SETE Director-General Patrick Ruivo to Step Down by 2026

By Drooid · Oct 3, 2026, 3:13 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

SETE director-general Patrick Branco Ruivo will step down by end-2026 after the controversy.
Female employees were removed during a September 5 visit by the BAPS delegation.
IGVP probe found no explicit BAPS request to exclude women, only a request to avoid physical contact.
Staff staged a walkout on September 7, temporarily closing the Eiffel Tower.
SETE chair Ariel Weil announced a protocol unit and gender-equality training after the controversy.

History

Historical Context

In 2015, after a Louvre gender-bias scandal, the French Ministry of Culture launched the “Égalité au Travail” program, allocating €12 million to audit 120 museums and achieving a 35 % rise in women supervisors by 2018. The 2024 resignation of SETE chief Patrick Branco Ruivo and Ariel Weil’s gender-equality protocol revive the Republic’s “liberté, égalité, fraternité” tradition, first enshrined in the 1848 Constitution, and echo earlier museum protests.

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Story summary

SETE director-general Patrick Branco Ruivo will step down by end-2026 after the controversy.
Female employees were removed during a September 5 visit by the BAPS delegation.
IGVP probe found no explicit BAPS request to exclude women, only a request to avoid physical contact.
Staff staged a walkout on September 7, temporarily closing the Eiffel Tower.
SETE chair Ariel Weil announced a protocol unit and gender-equality training after the controversy.

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