In this study, the researcher asked the following research question; how do baby boomer women describe their lived experience of changing gender roles over their lifetime? The participants or co-researchers were 12 Cohort 1 baby boomer women born between 1946 and 1954. The researcher sought to shed light on how this cohort of women experienced and adapted to changes in stereotypical gender roles throughout their lifetime. The literature review results showed that there were no studies that addressed their overall qualitative experience of changing roles over their lifetime. Also, there was a need for more qualitative research in general and on women in particular; a need for more studies on older populations of women, including baby boomer women; and a need for studies on women using populations other than convenience samples of female college students. A heuristic qualitative methodology was used which utilized in-depth interviews, observation, and journaling to examine the lived experience of the sample of co-researchers from the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. The data emerged from co-researcher's stories and revealed the following patterns and themes common to the group: all defined women and themselves, as nurturers and protectors; they asserted that parents and caretakers influenced their female role identity; the topics of clothing, media role models, and body image were explored only with nostalgia, superficially, or were avoided; over their lifetime, they all negotiated autonomy, safety, and dignity within what they defined as the fundamentally unfair limitations of women's roles; and the meaning and dignity of their lives as women emerged and was framed in a positive way via the narrative of their life as women. The women's stories expressed a common vision of their role as nurturer and protector, a dogged persistence, a positive outlook, and an ability to adapt to changes despite what they collectively described as gender inequality. The experience of gender inequality was consistent with the literature findings. However, the co-researchers did not substantively address body image or sexuality.