The right to an adequate standard of living is recognized as a human right in international human rights instruments and is understood to establish a minimum entitlement to food, clothing and housing at a subsistence level. The right to food and the right to housing have been further defined in human rights instruments.

The right to an adequate standard of living is enshrined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.^[1] The most significant inspiration for the inclusion of the right to an adequate standard of living in the UDHR was the Four Freedoms speech by US President Franklin Roosevelt, which declared amongst others the freedom from want. Fulfillment of the right to an adequate standard of living depends on a number of other economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to property, the right to work, the right to education and the right to social security.

Definition[link]

The most significant inspiration for the inclusion of the right to an adequate standard of living in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was the 1941 Four Freedoms speech by US President Franklin Roosevelt, which declared freedom of speech, freedom of faith, freedom from want and freedom from fear.^[2] On the basis of the speech the American Law Institute established a draft proposals for an international bill of rights, the Statement of Essential Human Rights, which greatly influenced the UDHR.^[3] The statement included the right to adequate food and housing and the right to social security, including the right to health.^[4] Article 25 of the UDHR recognises the right to an adequate standard of living, stating that:

"(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All Children, whether born in or out of wedlock shall enjoy the same social protection."^[5]

The UDHR establishes that the realisation of the right to an adequate standard of living requires as a minimum the enjoyment of subsistence rights, that is adequate food and nutrition, clothing, housing and care when required.^[6] The UDHR recognises that the right to an adequate standard of living will require different measures depending on the situation of a person. It specifies that persons who are unable to secure the enjoyment of conditions necessary for an adequate standard of living have a right to care. Article 25 is closely related to Article 22 of the UDHR, which explicitly enshrines the right to social security. Article 25 also specifically mentions the rights of children born out of wedlock, which historically have been subject to discrimination.^[7]

The nature of the right to an adequate standard of living was further defined in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),^[8] which defines the right to an adequate standard of living in two paragraphs. Paragraph one states that:

"The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent."^[9]

Medical care and health, which were included in the UDHR under the right to an adequate standard of living, were included in Article 12 of the ICESCR under the right to health.^[10] Rights relating to motherhood are recognised in Article 10 of the ICESCR on the protection of the family.^[11] When the ICESCR was drafted increased malnutrition was a urgent international concern, giving Article 11 an overall emphasis on food.^[12] Paragraph two of Article 11 states that:

"The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international co-operation, the measures, including specific programmes, which are needed: (a) To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources; (b) Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need."^[13]

As such Article 11 of the ICESCR establishes two human rights, the right to be free from hunger, known as the right to food, and the right to an adequate standard of living, specifically in relation to subsistence rights to clothing, housing and food.^[14] The ICESCR requires as a minimum that the subsistence rights are protected by the state. The right to food and the right to housing have subsequently been defined as independent rights in other human rights instruments.^[15] Other aspects of the right to an adequate standard of living, such as the right to clothing have not received such attention, nor development.^[16] <The ICESC makes it clear that states must take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of the right to an adequate standard of living, by for example requiring the state to take the necessary measures to ensure that hunger does not occur.^[17]

The right to an adequate standard of living is also enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which aimed to create conditions under which women and mothers would be economically secure and independent. The Convention requires states to end discrimination against women in relation to employment and other economic activities.^[18] The right to an adequate standard of living is reiterated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child with Article 27 recognising ever child's right to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. The parents of the child have primary responsibility to secure this right within their abilities, while the state must take appropriate steps to assist parents and others responsible for children. States must if necessary provide material assistance, particularly in relation to nutrition, clothing and housing.^[19]

Relationship with other rights[link]

Overall the right to an adequate standard of living is understood as a social right, which requires respect for a number of other economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to education as enshrined in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the right to property, which is enshrined in Article 17 of the UDHR, the right to work as enshrined in Article 23 of the UDHR and Article 6 of the ICESCR, and the right to social security as enshrined in Article 22 of the UDHR and Article 25 of the ICESCR.^[20] When the right to property, the right to work and the right to social security, three core economic rights, are implemented in combination, it is assumed that an adequate standard of living can normally be secured.^[21]

The right to private property was a crucial demand in early quests for political freedom and equality, and against feudal control of property. Property can serve as the basis for the entitlements that ensure the realisation of the right to an adequate standard of living. Initially only property owners were granted civil and political rights, such as the right to vote. The right to work was enshrined to allow those who do not own property to attain an adequate standard of living.^[22] Today discrimination on the basis of property ownership is recognised as a serious threat to the equal enjoyment of human rights by all and non-discrimination clauses in international human rights instruments frequently include property as a ground on the basis of which discrimination is prohibited (see the right to equality before the law).^[23]

See also[link]

• Legal aid
• Right to health
• Right to water

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011)

Standard of living refers to the level of wealth, happiness, comfort, material goods and necessities available to a certain socioeconomic class in a certain geographic area. The standard of living includes factors such as income, quality and availability of employment, class disparity, poverty rate, quality and affordability of housing, hours of work required to purchase necessities, gross domestic product, inflation rate, number of vacation days per year, affordable (or free) access to quality healthcare, quality and availability of education, life expectancy, incidence of disease, cost of goods and services, infrastructure, national economic growth, economic and political stability, political and religious freedom, environmental quality, climate and safety. The standard of living is closely related to quality of life.^[1]

Standard of living is generally measured by standards such as real (i.e. inflation adjusted) income per person and poverty rate. Other measures such as access and quality of health care, income growth inequality, Disposable Energy (people's disposable income's ability to buy energy) and educational standards are also used. Examples are access to certain goods (such as number of refrigerators per 1000 people), or measures of health such as life expectancy. It is the ease by which people living in a time or place are able to satisfy their needs and/or wants.^{[citation needed]}

The idea of a 'standard' may be contrasted with the quality of life, which takes into account not only the material standard of living, but also other more intangible aspects that make up human life, such as leisure, safety, cultural resources, social life, physical health, environmental quality issues, etc. More complex means of measuring well-being must be employed to make such judgements, and these are very often political, thus controversial. Even between two nations or societies that have similar material standards of living, quality of life factors may in fact make one of these places more attractive to a given individual or group.

However, there can be problems even with just using numerical averages to compare material standards of living, as opposed to, for instance, a Pareto index (a measure of the breadth of income or wealth distribution). Standards of living are perhaps inherently subjective. As an example, countries with a very small, very rich upper class and a very large, very poor lower class may have a high mean level of income, even though the majority of people have a low "standard of living". This mirrors the problem of poverty measurement, which also tends towards the relative. This illustrates how distribution of income can disguise the actual standard of living.

Likewise Country A, a perfectly state capitalist country with a planned economy with very low average per capita income would receive a higher score for having lower income inequality than Country B with a higher income inequality, even if the bottom of Country B's population distribution had a higher per capita income than Country A. Real examples of this include former East Germany compared to former West Germany or North Korea compared to South Korea. In each case, the state capitalist country has a low income discrepancy (and therefore would score high in that regard), but lower per capita incomes than a large majority of their neighboring counterpart. This can be avoided by using the measure of income at various percentiles of the population rather than a highly relative and controversial overall income inequality measure.

See also[link]

• Cost of living
• Gini coefficient
• Human Development Index
• Median household income
• Right to an adequate standard of living

References[link]

External links[link]

• Industrial Revolution and the Standard of Living by Freddy Madero

One of the main determinants of the role of Women in Palestine in Palestinian society is the structure of the family which may be a nuclear unit, a transitional unit, or a hamula unit (hamula means "extended family", the most common family structure in Palestinian society). The significant influences to the rights of women in Palestine are the patriarchal tradition and the teachings of the Quran. In general, expecting parents in Palestine prefer having males because the boys carry "the name of the family and secures" the continuity of the family line and strengthens the likelihood of its economic stability. On the other hand, female Palestinians were not expected to secure income for the family, but women were expected to adapt to the customary roles of women in Palestinian society wherein females were traditionally molded as inferior to men.^[1]

However, there had been a gradual change in the attitudes of parents regarding the education of their Palestinian daughters since the middle of the 1970s. From the middle part of the 1970s, several numbers of Palestinian women achieved education from universities, instead of only receiving education at the secondary level. Reasons for the change of parental attitude were the "increased demand for women on the labour market", changes in the status of the economy in the West Bank territory, the "economic interests" of the parents, and the idea that a well-educated Palestinian woman has a better place and opportunity on the "marriage market". In addition to this, armed with earned education, an unmarried daughter can financially support herself and her parents.^[1]

Despite of the change in parental views, however, contemporary women in Palestine are reported to be experiencing adversity due to political discord, Israeli occupation, and the "denial of full rights and protection by Palestinian society" in general.^[2]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: People of Palestine

• Women for Palestine
• Palestine women's national football team
• General Union of Palestinian Women
• Palestinian costumes
• Islamic marital practices

References[link]

v t e Topics related to the historic region of Palestine History History of Palestine (Jewish history  · Muslim history  · Christian history)  · Timeline of the name Palestine  · Definitions of Palestine  · Time periods in the Palestine region  · Timeline of the region of Palestine history  · Demographics of Palestine Holy places All Abrahamic Religions Cave of the Patriarchs  · Joseph's Tomb  · Rachel's Tomb  · Lot's Tomb Judaism Four Holy Cities  · Western Wall Christianity Church of the Holy Sepulchre  · Church of the Nativity  · Basilica of the Annunciation Islam Dome of the Rock  · Al-Aqsa Mosque  · Great Mosque of Gaza Ruling regimes Philistines / Canaanites / New Kingdom Egypt  · Ancient Israel and Judah  · Neo-Assyrian Empire and Neo-Babylonian Empire  · Persian Empire  · Hellenistic Greece and Hasmonean  · Roman Empire  · Byzantine Empire  · Rashidun, Umayyad and Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates  · The Crusaders, Seljuks and Ayyubids  · The Mamluk  · Ottoman Empire  · British Empire  · Modern state of Israel / Palestinian territories / Egypt / Jordan

Ken O'Keefe (born August 18, 1953) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently a wide receivers coach for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL), a position he assumed in February 2012. O'Keefe has previously served as the offensive coordinator for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team from 1999 to 2011. He was the head football coach at the Allegheny College from 1990 to 1997 and at Fordham University in 1998, compiling a career college football record of 83–17–1. In O'Keefe's first season at Allegheny, in 1990, his team went 13–0–1 and won the NCAA Division III National Football Championship.

Coaching career[link]

On February 3, 2012, O'Keefe resigned from the Iowa program to take a job with the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). New Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin spent several years on Iowa's staff, coaching the offensive line from 1999 to 2002.

Head coaching record[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Iowa profile
• Ken O'Keefe at the College Football Data Warehouse

This biographical article relating to a college football coach first appointed in the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e