“Women’s Work” by Megan K. Stack — From A Nanny’s Perspective

As a nanny who has already spent three decades helping raise other people’s children, “Women’s Work” by Megan K. Stack hit me in a deeply personal place. This book is not a comforting celebration of modern motherhood; it’s a raw, honest look at the hidden cost of women’s professional ambition. 

The author is a former war correspondent. She turns her sharp reporting skills inward as she chronicles her own experience navigating motherhood while continuing to write from home. What makes “Women’s Work” so striking is that it doesn’t just focus on her struggles — it also sheds light on the domestic workers who enable her to pursue her career. Women from poorer countries, with fewer choices, who clean her home, care for her child, and carry her emotional burdens while silently managing their own.

Reading this, I couldn’t help but recognize pieces of my own life (and especially nanny friends) in the stories of the nannies and housekeepers Stack employs. “Women’s Work” recognizes the feelings of invisibility, of emotional labor, of being indispensable yet disposable. Stack doesn’t let herself, or the readers, off the hook. She wrestles with her complicity in a system that exploits women of color and immigrant workers, while also acknowledging her dependency on it.

What I appreciated most was her honesty. Stack doesn’t romanticize her help, nor does she demonize them. Instead, she invites us into the complexity of these relationships — how love, guilt, trust, and power all live in the same space.

For many nannies, “Women’s Work” is both validating and painful. It’s a rare moment of recognition from someone who employed domestic help. Stack sees domestic workers not just as hired help, but as women with families, dreams, and labor that deserves dignity.

“Women’s Work” doesn’t offer easy solutions. But it did make me think. And for anyone who has ever relied on someone like me to hold their world together — especially behind closed doors — it’s essential reading.

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