21 June,2026 08:29 AM IST | Mumbai | Arpika Bhosale
The podcast has sparked a national debate over patriarchy and climate crisis. Pic/Youtube@SohaAliKhanP
Women don't want a world without men. Women don't want to rid the earth of mankind, even though the world itself alienates us completely. It's not something we believed even necessary to spell out, until we saw the absolute pandemonium afoot ever since actor and environmentalist Dia Mirza made a remark linking patriarchal structures - business, war, and hoarding of wealth - to the steady annihilation of "Mother Nature".
On June 5, Mirza and Arati Kumar Rao, an ecofeminist as well as photographer, appeared on Soha Ali Khan's YouTube podcast titled All About Her (@SohaAliKhanP). Mirza recalls a 2023 interview in which "I had said that patriarchy is the cause of climate change, it's men who have driven climate change in this world, and they are entirely responsible for the chaos that has been unleashed on our world today, and the misery that people have been experiencing everywhere," she says.
What followed was men and women going after Mirza, saying her remarks smacked of an "anti-men" sentiment rising among women. One creator says in a video made to counter Mirza, "Turning ecofeminism into âmen caused climate change' is just bad logic."
Sunday mid-day's attempts to reach out to them for a comment went unanswered.
While a few have been drawing upon how Mirza and women are active consumers as well.
The logic another women creator uses is, "Another creater says, "climate change is not caused by patriarchy or men alone. It was caused by how humanity chose to industrialise and consume energy. Dia Mirza, Kya AC use nah karti? Kya aap gaddi se travel nah karti? [Do you not use the AC? Drive a car?] You use all the resources that are available and that men use, right?"
Such was the furore that Mirza, despite being no stranger to cyber bullying, had to make an explainer video on Wednesday. "When crops fail, food becomes scarce or families are displaced by floods, droughts and storms, women and children are often the most vulnerable. For me climate justice and gender justice are inseparable," she says in a video on Instagram (@diamirzaofficial).
The actor's comments also resonated with many, however. Notably, through this controversy, the term "ecofeminist" has emerged in mainstream discourse for the first time. In fact, on June 5, the day the podcast was released, "ecofeminist" was Googled 100 times, while "ecofeminism" was Googled 824 times, where there were barely any searches for those terms before that.
No matter which side of the fence one is on, one thing's for sure: Mirza made India Google ecofeminism. At a time when Mumbai is suffering the full brunt of the El Niño effect due to climate change, even one person acknowledging the crisis and talking about it is a win in our book.
Radha, a standup comic who's made waves with comedy on patriarchy, asks men to really listen
Radha, a 36-year-old comic, first started getting crazy views on her Instagram (@radha_thefunnyfoodie) videos reading out Indian romance novels very clearly written with the male gaze.
In a Reel uploaded on Wednesday, Radha weighed in on the controversy: "Men have to understand that every attack on men is not a personal attack on them. Patriarchy harms men too. Men easily identify the problems of patriarchy, like the pressure to be the sole providers, high suicide cases, and loneliness, but somehow they make it a feminism problem."
Feminism and ecofeminism are not about women hating men, she stresses. "Nobody's anti-men, please understand that," the Thane resident tells us over a phone call. "Nobody is coming at individual men with pitchforks. That's literally what you [men] do with women. Women were burnt for being witches, but we are not going to burn you. We're just asking that you understand what patriarchy means, and what feminism means," she says.
Jacinta Kerkettta, an award-winning adivasi/tribal poet and journalist from Jharkhand, speaks out
"I agree with Dia Mirza. It is crucial to understand how men have imposed their own definitions upon nature to justify their violence. They argued that violence is inherent in nature - where the strong devour the weak. Under this definition, powerful men and societies continued to perpetrate violence against other societies. They not only maintained violence and dominance over fellow humans but also continued the destruction of nature. Yet, they overlooked a fundamental quality of nature: the interconnectedness of all things - ignoring the harmony, cooperation, mutual care, and communication essential for survival among living beings.
Furthermore, the more a community drifted away from nature, the more patriarchal it became; conversely, communities deeply connected to nature often exhibit traits of a matriarchal society. In such communities, people perceive nature and human existence as inextricably linked. This is why, in many tribal languages, elements of nature are gendered as female - mountains and trees alike are seen as feminine. This illustrates how patriarchal society not only positions women at the foundation of its structure but also remains ruthless toward nature. Since men are driven by a desire to conquer nature, destroying it has become normalized for them; their entire concept of development begins with the destruction of the natural world. Therefore, Dia Mirza is absolutely right when she asserts that the patriarchal system bears responsibility for the climate crisis.
To claim that men cannot be held responsible for everything is absurd. After all, men have monopolised control over the world's natural resources and are the ones exploiting them. Consequently, it is essential to question them directly and clearly hold them accountable. Men have collectively instigated wars to satisfy their egos and are the ones destroying nature. It is vital to state this plainly. I feel that any man who strives to become a truly fine human being gradually embraces feminism. It is also crucial to revisit the concept of ecofeminism. As I mentioned earlier, the way a society becomes patriarchal is significant; societies that are alienated from nature tend to exhibit patriarchal traits, whereas communities close to nature often display matriarchal characteristics. This implies that a society's nature is shaped, in part, by its connection to - or estrangement from - the natural world. Therefore, it is essential to discuss ecofeminism afresh. Caring for nature requires a different kind of wisdom. Those who pride themselves on superior intellect have largely caused its destruction, and in doing so, we are losing the paths to understanding nature and living in harmony with it. Thus, there is an urgent need to explore new approaches in this direction."
Radha has gotten "a lot of sh''t" from men online for her comedy that questions patriarchy, such as how the link between capitalism and patriarchy has stripped the Earth of natural resources. But men are not the only people she calls out. "Look, I agree with what she [Mirza] says, but we also have to call out her privilege. We need to hear more from people who are most affected by climate change, give them a platform too. Right now, in Mumbai, we are cutting down our mangroves, which will be disastrous for the city," she points out.
Vaibhav Tripathi and Jyoti Sharma are co-founders of a women's health startup called Femease
Vaibhav Tripathi and Jyoti Sharma are co-founders of Femease, a women's health startup. Their work addresses the gap in information around women's health. There's another gender gap the duo point to in this great debate - the lack of seats for women at the policymaking table.
We bring up the calls for women to take more accountability rather than criticising men for ecological damage, and he says, "In the COP meetings on climate change, many governments have accepted that historically, bad decisions led to climate change. But who were the people making these bad decisions? Women were under the thumb of patriarchy at that time; they were not part of the decisions - such as war - that had massive fallout on the ecosystem. So men have to take that much more responsibility for what's happening. But ultimately, everyone - man, woman, or child - have to take responsibility for being sustainable."
The same story is repeating in their home state, Rajasthan, as it experienced unprecedented water shortage and temperatures between 45 to 46 degrees Celsius in May, says his colleague, Sharma. "I live in a state that has always had water shortage, but now the temperatures are rising and I feel that it is because there are no women who are a part of policymaking in the state apparatus."
Asked if they agree with Mirza's point of view, Tripathi minces no words, "See, patriarchy did cause it [climate crisis]. Take the Industrial Revolution; that was a time when indigenous peoples living off the forest were considered uncivilised."
Sharma adds that historically women have been fighting against the climate fall out. "From the Chipko movement to other environmental battles, all have been led by women in an effort to absorb the effects of patriarchy. Mirza is absolutely bang on the target," she says, "I think this is the first time a mainstream actor has made such a comment. But ecofeminism has existed long before she said it, and it has always been about the structures built around patriarchy, and not men in particular."
