Although research documents career patterns of working women, ramifications of aging in the workforce, and sexist discrimination at work, there is little on the working women of the Baby Boomer cohort and their role as trailblazers during changing social norms. This research magnifies the voices of Baby Boomer women, by conducting semi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews with 16 women; grounded theory and thematic coding were used to identify themes within the data. Previous research has documented that Baby Boomer women were invisible at work in that they were only recognized and acknowledged in their traditional roles as wives and mothers. This research extends that invisibility and argues that it should instead be conceptualized as accumulating over their lifecourse, reinforced by gendered socialization and workplace norms. In addition, my study coheres a disjointed previous literature by demonstrating the precarious position of Baby Boomer women forging new, hopeful paths in an era in with few models, all while on uncertain and inadequate financial footing across their lives. Cohort theories and a lifecourse perspective help us understand that it was this unique point in time that created the uncertain context for this cohort of women. These women persevered and as they negotiated the rapid social changes of the era from the 1960s through the 1990s, they pioneered social change which would benefit our society for decades to come.
