Paris: The Eiffel Tower will honor 72 female scholars to achieve gender equality and fix a historical inspection from their original construction.
Gustav Eiffel originally mentioned the names of 72 male scholars in golden letters based on the memorial 130 years ago.
An expert Commission on Friday presented its conclusion to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to address this historic exclusion.
The purpose of the project is to highlight the historical contribution of women for science and technology.
This tribute is known as “Mattida effect” to the systematic repression of the contribution of women.
The term was coined by American historian Margaret Roster in 1993 after American rights activist Matida Josalin Gauge.
The commission has been chaired by Astrophysicist Isabel Voglin and Tower’s Operating Company head Jean-Francois Martins.
The original 72 male scientists lived and worked between 1789 and 1889, including inventor Louis Dagure and physicist Andre-Mary Empier.
A final list of women’s names will be proposed to Mayor Hidalgo for verification before the end of the year.
The selection will focus on reputed female experts who lived between 1789 and the present day.
All elected women should be deceased and mainly of French nationality.
The Commission has proposed to name women above the existing fragments with men’s names to ensure visual equality.
The Eiffel Tower lives under the ownership of the city of Paris and stands as one of the most viewed monuments in the world.
It attracts about seven million visitors annually, with about three-fourths from abroad.
The initiative follows a similar debate about the inscriptions of the Panthean about the recent calls of Education Minister Elizabeth Born. – AFP
