Last week, Kristin Scott Thomas, the British actress, found herself in an enormous meeting room in the bowels of the Louvre museum, rubbing shoulders with Marlène Schiappa, the French Minister for Equality; François-Henri Pinault, the C.E.O. of Kering; and Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris.

Ms. Scott Thomas was presiding over the 14th global meeting of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, a sort of Davos for women’s voices on key issues and policies attended by 2,500 leaders from over 90 countries, debating topics like equal access to health care and gender-based violence.

On Oct. 18, the forum had announced the naming of Ms. Scott Thomas as honorary president.

Few people were probably more surprised to find herself playing the part than Ms. Scott Thomas herself.

“I thought there must be some mistake,” she said over tea at the Wolseley in London a few days before the event. “I’m not a feminist. I’m not a politician.”