At 9 pm on Saturday evening, Rashika, a Joint Secretary, was still engrossed in her work in her office. Her husband, Vikram, is an executive in an MNC and frequently out of town in connection with his work. Their two children aged 5 and 3 are looked after by their domestic helper. At 9:30 pm her superior, Mr. Suresh calls her and asks her to prepare a detailed note on an important matter to be discussed in a meeting in the Ministry. She realises that she will have to work on Sunday to finish the additional task given by her superior.
She reflects on how she had looked forward to this posting and had worked long hours for months to achieve it. She had kept the welfare of people uppermost in discharging her duties. She feels that she has not done enough justice to her family and she has not fulfilled her duties in discharging essential social obligations. Even as recently as last month she had to leave her sick child in the nanny’s care as she had to work in the office. Now, she feels that she must draw a line, beyond which her personal life should take precedence over her professional responsibilities. She thinks that there should be reasonable limits to the work ethics such as punctuality, hard work, dedication to duty and selfless service.
(a) Discuss the ethical issues involved in this case. (b) Briefly describe at least four laws that have been enacted by the Government with respect to providing a healthy, safe and equitable working environment for women. (c) Imagine you are in a similar situation. What suggestions would you make to mitigate such working conditions?
Approach · directive: “discuss / describe / suggest”
What it asks · (a) Weigh duty to public service against family obligations and the limits of a work ethic; (b) describe four laws for women's safe and equitable workplaces; (c) suggest practical fixes.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- (a) Discuss the ethical issues in the case
- (b) Briefly describe at least four laws for a healthy, safe and equitable working environment for women
- (c) Suggest, as if in her situation, how to mitigate such working conditions
Open with · Aristotle placed virtue in a mean between excess and defect; dedication to duty is a virtue, and Rashika's question is where it tips into excess.
Cover
- (a) Issues: dedication to public service versus obligations to children and family, unreasonable last-minute demands, and gender norms that leave care work with her.
- (a) Also: the superior's empathy and fairness, her guilt and stress, the children's welfare, the difference between real urgency and routine overwork, and her husband's shared responsibility.
- (b) POSH Act 2013 (against sexual harassment of women at the workplace): mandatory Internal Complaints Committees and a redress process, following the Vishaka guidelines.
- (b) Maternity Benefit Act 1961, as amended in 2017: 26 weeks' paid leave for the first two children and creches in establishments with 50 or more employees.
- (b) Equal Remuneration Act 1976 (equal pay for equal work, later folded into the Code on Wages, 2019) and the Factories Act 1948, with safeguards on women's hours, safety and creches.
- (c) Suggestions: explain constraints to the superior and negotiate realistic deadlines, plan ahead and delegate, and separate what is urgent from what can wait.
- (c) Systemic fixes: predictable hours, flexible or remote work in emergencies, creche facilities, child-care leave, gender-sensitive supervisors, and shared care at home.
Close with · A civil service that wants more women at its top must make dedication sustainable; predictable hours, shared care and fair leaders let officers serve without failing their families.
Add value (verified)
- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II: virtue is a state of character lying in a mean between two vices, one of excess and one of defect. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II (tr. W.D. Ross) — The Internet Classics Archive, MIT ↗“Virtue, then, is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e. the mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle, and by that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. Now it is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect”
- Care ethics emerged as a distinct moral theory with Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings in the mid-1980s, asserting the 'voice of care' as an alternative to the 'justice perspective'. Care Ethics — Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (University of Tennessee at Martin) ↗“the emergence of care ethics as a distinct moral theory is most often attributed to the works of psychologist Carol Gilligan and philosopher Nel Noddings in the mid-1980s. Both charged traditional moral approaches with male bias, and asserted the “voice of care” as a legitimate alternative to the “justice perspective” of liberal human rights theory.”
- Under the new labour codes (PIB, November 2025), women may work at night (before 6 a.m. and after 7 p.m.) with their consent, and the employer must arrange their safety, facilities and transport. New Labour Codes Empower Women with Greater Safety, Equality, and Workplace Flexibility — PIB factsheet, 27 November 2025 ↗“They may also work at night, i.e. before 6 a.m. and beyond 7 p.m, with their consent, and the employer is required to make adequate arrangements for their safety, facilities, and transportation.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2023, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 376 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
Aristotle placed virtue in "a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect". Dedication to duty is a virtue; Rashika's question is where it tips into excess.
Stakeholders
- People involved: Rashika; her two children and husband Vikram; Mr Suresh and the ministry; the public she serves; and the women officers who will follow her.
(a) Ethical issues involved
- Duty versus family: both are real duties; leaving a sick child with the nanny shows the cost of making one absolute.
- Fair leadership: a 9:30 pm Saturday call for a Sunday task tests whether the urgency is genuine or poor planning passed down.
- Gender norms: with Vikram often away, care falls on her. Care ethics (Carol Gilligan, Nel Noddings) treats this "voice of care" as a moral claim, not a weakness.
- Limits of the work ethic: punctuality and dedication are virtues, not unlimited claims; burnout harms the service itself, so self-care is also a duty.
(b) Four laws for a healthy, safe and equitable workplace for women
- POSH Act, 2013: Internal Complaints Committees and time-bound redress against sexual harassment, built on the Vishaka guidelines (1997).
- Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (amended 2017): 26 weeks of paid leave for the first two children, and creches in establishments with 50 or more employees.
- Equal Remuneration Act, 1976: equal pay for equal work and no bias in recruitment; since then folded into the Code on Wages, 2019.
- Factories Act, 1948: limits on women's hours and night work, safety provisions and creches. Since then, the labour codes allow women's night work only with consent and employer-arranged safety and transport (PIB, 2025).
(c) Suggestions to mitigate such working conditions
- Immediate: call Mr Suresh, explain her constraint, ask what is truly needed by Monday, and draft a crisp note from home with a junior's help.
- Personal: share care with Vikram, plan ahead and build a support network.
- Systemic: a threshold for out-of-hours demands, remote work in emergencies, an office creche, child care leave and gender-sensitisation for supervisors.
A civil service that wants more women at its top must make dedication sustainable: predictable hours, shared care and fair leaders let officers serve without failing their families.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.