preprints.org > social sciences > language and linguistics > doi: 10.20944/preprints202404.0828.v1

Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Version 1 : Received: 10 April 2024 / Approved: 11 April 2024 / Online: 12 April 2024 (04:47:23 CEST)

This paper investigates women’s empowerment and their active involvement in governance aimed at promoting sustainable development. The study focuses on examining the roles and processes of co-creation of nature-based solutions (NBS) for water management in Milan. Three research directions were explored: 1) to determine gender-based roles within local governance; 2) to detect semantic groups of NBS based on stakeholders' gender; c) to analyze gender-based linguistic and conceptual patterns of NBS. To achieve our objectives, we converted a sample of audio-video interviews of local stakeholders into textual data along with metadata indicating speakers' roles and gender. Descriptive statistics were applied to explore the governance's roles. We employed a combination of textual analysis and network analysis to identify thematic groups of NBS, and applied a word embedding approach to uncover linguistic patterns indicative of semantic sub-structures. The findings revealed significant demographic diversity. Male stakeholders perceive sustainable development as a process driven by the circular economy and the coordination of territorial authorities, while female stakeholders envision a transformative approach rooted in science, culture, and collaboration. The semantic sub-structure analysis highlighted a tendency among male governance to emphasize specialized skills, whereas female governance placed greater emphasis on problem definition rather than resolution.

women’s empowerment; nature-based solutions; natural language processing; water management; network analysis

Social Sciences, Language and Linguistics

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