At the Cannes Film Festival, women are required to wear heels on the red carpet and in any public outing, which goes against Cate Blanchett's views. That being said, the actress made a strong statement by appearing barefoot.

At a festival party organized by Variety and the Golden Globes, Blanchett went on stage without shoes. The actress' decision to ditch her style was a defiance of Cannes' backward rules, but it also served to highlight the need to think about women's rights globally.

"This is to hit anyone who stands in the way of women's rights," she said as she presented "Holy Spider" actress Zahra Amir Ebrahimi with the award for one of the best female artists of the moment. Zahra is from Iran and used the moment to speak about women's rights in Iran, a country that is "executing innocent people".