WOMAN ON ROPE :
WOMAN SPORT PEACE JUSTICE
A Sporting and Artistic Short Film for Women, Peace and Justice
A project by Guila Clara Kessous, UNESCO Artist for Peace and Director of the Femina Vox International Forum
What if a single sporting gesture could embody the entire journey of women’s rights?
WOMAN ON ROPE is a unique artistic and physical short film that places the female body, effort, and resilience at the heart of the global pursuit of equality. Through a symbolic rope ascent — a gesture deeply rooted in sport — Guila Clara Kessous, UNESCO Artist for Peace and Director of the Femina Vox International Forum, transforms athletic movement into a universal language of women’s rights, peace, and justice.
Presented on March 8, 2026, for International Women’s Rights Day, the short film calls attention to sport as a shared diplomatic language that advances women’s empowerment, dialogue, and social cohesion across borders.**
WHEN SPORT BECOMES A DIPLOMATIC AND PEACEFUL ACT
In WOMAN ON ROPE, climbing becomes more than physical performance — it becomes a metaphor for dialogue, resilience, and the long journey toward equality. The rope, a familiar element in training, competition, and physical education, symbolizes both discipline and aspiration, effort and hope.
Each movement of the ascent reflects a chapter in women’s history: the rope itself transforms into a chronological axis, where every grip corresponds to a specific date, moment, and place symbolizing key milestones in the evolution of women’s rights. Rights gained, freedoms challenged, and paths reopened are marked in this embodied timeline, while slips and pauses remind us that equality, like peace, requires constant engagement, effort, and mutual respect. Beyond its symbolic power, the short film will also have a pedagogical dimension, partnering with schools around the world to help students explore and understand the meaning of this ascension and the ongoing struggle for women’s rights.
At the summit, the performance culminates in an act of peace: the release of doves into the sky, echoing the Olympic ideal of harmony between body, mind, and humanity.
WOMEN AND SPORT: THE BODY AS A SPACE FOR DIGNITY AND DIALOGUE
By placing a woman alone on the rope, WOMAN ON ROPE highlights the diplomatic dimension of women’s bodies in sport. For decades, women have negotiated their place in athletic spaces — advocating for the right to compete, to train freely, to be visible, and to be respected.
This ascent honors:
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women athletes who opened doors through perseverance and dialogue,
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women excluded from sport because of cultural, legal, or conflict-related barriers,
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women who continue to affirm their dignity simply by engaging in physical movement.
Sport becomes here a language of diplomacy — one that transcends borders, cultures, and ideologies.
MORE THAN MY OWN CHALLENGE
“When I was a child, people laughed at me because I couldn’t climb the rope. Years later, through my work for women’s rights around the world, I understood that this climb was never only about me. It represents the collective effort of women — in sport and beyond — striving toward equality.” — Guila Clara Kessous UNESCO Artist for Peace and Director of Femina Vox International Forum
A CHRONOLOGY OF WOMEN’S STRUGGLES, EMBODIED IN MOVEMENT
The short film unfolds along a vertical timeline, where each stage of the climb corresponds to a historical moment — advances and setbacks alike — in the recognition of women’s rights.
As in sport, progress is built through endurance, discipline, and continuity.
The body becomes an archive, and movement becomes memory.
A CALL TO THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT
WOMAN ON ROPE aligns with the Olympic values of excellence, respect, and friendship, affirming that women’s access to sport is inseparable from peace, justice, and diplomacy.
This short film invites the Olympic movement to reaffirm its commitment to:
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gender equality in and through sport,
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the protection and visibility of women athletes worldwide,
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sport as a diplomatic force fostering dialogue, education, and peace.
Because when women rise — in sport, in dignity, and in freedom — humanity rises with them.
