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This research study examines the issue of gender equality in high schools in Vietnam through the lenses of Vietnamese educators and Vietnamese students and compares the situation in that country with measures taken in England to promote gender equality in education. The sample consisted of staff and students in Vietnam and staff in England. In order to achieve the required in-depth analysis of the social experience of students and educators the research approach employed was qualitative and the main research tools were semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed by the combination of grounded theory and narrative analysis. The main findings of the research were threefold: firstly, dichotomies exist between what Vietnamese educators espouse and what they enact in terms of gender equality, thus revealing a critical disjunction between policy and practice; secondly, embedded gender stereotypes of both educators and students exist in Vietnamese high schools which place women at a disadvantageous position; thirdly, the curriculum operant in Vietnamese high schools is problematic in that it fails to challenge gender stereotypes and reinforces traditional views of girls and women. In addition, the comparative element in the research reveals many similar beliefs about the theories of gender and education in Vietnam and England such as the acknowledgement of the role of education in promoting gender equality and a commitment by both government agencies and schools to guarantee gender equality between boys and girls. Nonetheless, many interesting differences between the two countries emerged in dealing with gender issues attributable to the different culture norms in the two nations. Recommendations include the suggestions that the Vietnamese government should undertake more significant steps to target gender inequalities by issuing further legislation regarding gender equality in both education and in the wider society in order to close the gap between policy and practice. The researcher also offers the recommendation to improve the training of Vietnamese school leaders and teachers in terms of gender equality, especially in relation to the learning activities provided in schools. In addition, the researcher suggests amending the Vietnamese curriculum in order that it should become more gender neutral. Finally, the researcher suggests that Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programmes in Vietnam should be developed further in order to give greater emphasis to gender issues in the curriculum and to encourage practical classroom strategies to address such issues in the educational environment.

The thesis contains three empirical studies into economic effects of infrastructure, focusing on different aspects of the Vietnamese economy during the period 2000-2007, namely, economic growth, private sector employment, and private sector location choices. In addition, the empirical studies explicitly take into account the potential existence of cross-province transport infrastructure spillovers. By estimating empirical models specified in accordance with the relevant literature and the context of the Vietnamese economy, and subject to the availability of data, the thesis obtains the following main findings. Firstly, there is evidence of a positive impact of transport infrastructure on economic growth, on private sector employment, and on private sector location choices. Secondly, sectoral differences in the impact of transport infrastructure are identified in the location choice analysis. Thirdly, the cross-province transport infrastructure spillovers cannot be seen in the growth analysis; whereas, there is some evidence of a negative spillover effect on private sector employment. In the location choice analysis, the evidence of spillovers varies dramatically. Finally, higher-education infrastructure, which is assumed to be associated with the capacity of qualified labour supply, is positively related to both private sector employment and location choices.

Attributes of places may influence health over and above effects of individual risk factors. This thesis describes investigation of the role of social cohesion and its joint effect with economic deprivation in explaining health inequalities between neighbourhoods. Social cohesion was measured in over 250 neighbourhoods in England and Scotland by postal survey. Aggregated responses and economic deprivation data from the census data were linked to existing health databases from the Health Survey for England, the Scottish Health Survey and the Whitehall II study. One set of respondents reported on their perception of social cohesion in their neighbourhood and a different set of respondents (living in the same neighbourhoods) reported on their health, thus avoiding affect bias. The prevalence of poor self-rated health was higher in neighbourhoods with more family ties, lower participation rates, less integration into wider society and lower levels of trust, attachment and tolerance, after accounting for participant's age, sex and socioeconomic position. Effect sizes were comparable with a 15 year increase in age. Greater contact with local family and lower integration were associated with increased smoking providing some evidence that local norms influence smoking behaviour. Residents in neighbourhoods with higher levels of trust and attachment had somewhat better social support and were less vigilant for threat, indicating two possible pathways linking the neighbourhood environment to individual health. Neighbourhood social cohesion was highly correlated with economic deprivation. All associations between social cohesion and health listed above were attenuated after adjustment for economic deprivation. Whilst significant associations between social cohesion and several health indicators and plausible pathways linking these have been demonstrated, it appears that social cohesion and economic deprivation are closely coupled and independent effects of social cohesion could not be identified. A major conclusion of this study is that initiatives which seek to increase social cohesion while ignoring the structural factors that perpetuate economic deprivation are unlikely to have major impacts on health.