UPSC Mains 2022 GS Paper 1 Q8: model answer
Explore and evaluate the impact of ‘Work From Home’ on family relationships.
What the question wants
Explore and evaluate how working from home has affected family relationships.
How to structure it
Explore and evaluate: describe effects, then judge their balance.
- Positive effects
- Negative effects
- Gendered effects
- Evaluation
How to think it through
Work from home turned the dining table into an office and the family into colleagues who interrupt meetings. Positives: more time together, care for the elderly, no commute. Negatives: blurred boundaries, conflict, more burden on women. Evaluate: it depends on space, gender roles and employer policies.
Model answer
Nasscom estimated that over 90 per cent of IT employees worked remotely at the peak of the pandemic in 2020. Overnight, the dining table became the office, and family life had to adjust around video calls.
Positive effects
- More time with children and elderly parents; less commuting.
- Greater participation of fathers in household work in some families.
- Option to live in hometowns, reuniting extended families.
Negative effects
- Blurred boundaries between work and family; longer working hours.
- Lack of space in small homes leads to stress and conflict.
- Isolation from colleagues; mental health concerns.
Gendered effects
- Women often faced a double burden, combining paid work with increased care work.
- Some women gained flexibility to stay in employment.
Evaluation
- The impact depends on house size, gender norms and employer policies. Hybrid models now seek a balance.
Evidence and examples
- Surveys during the pandemic found women's unpaid care hours rose more than men's.
WFH has strengthened some family bonds and strained others. Clear boundaries, shared domestic work and supportive employers can make it a positive change.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Hybrid work, double burden, work–life balance, right to disconnect debate.
Where most answers lose marks
- Writing only about productivity, not family relationships.
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Fresh examples from current affairs
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UPSC angle: Prelims: Census phases.
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UPSC angle: Prelims: Census phases, self-enumeration.
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High-Level Committee on Demographic Change constituted
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UPSC angle: Prelims: Census 2027 innovations.
17 May 2026Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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