(MONEY Magazine) – MEMO TO PRESIDENT CLINTON: While you and the rest of the Beltway bigwigs consider re-engineering affirmative action programs that favor minorities, the nation's 60 million working women might not cotton to the idea. Largely overlooked in the debate about "equal opportunity" vs. "preferential treatment" is that women, particularly white women, have been among the biggest beneficiaries of 30 years' worth of affirmative action. The average white woman now earns 78¢ for every dollar earned by a man, up from 63¢ in 1979.

If you and the Congress roll back affirmative action, Mr. President, come Election Day '96, women voters may decide you've rolled back the clock on them. "Clinton's dilemma is the same as the whole Democratic Party's dilemma," says James A. Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington, D.C. "On the one hand, he wants to show support for a system based on merit. On the other, he needs to show support for women and minorities."

Conservatives like presidential hopeful Pete Wilson could be equally stymied. The California governor is pushing hard for a ballot proposal that would eliminate preferential treatment in state hiring, education and contracts. But that initiative could backfire as women watch hard-won gains fade away.

Already, the Supreme Court's spring ruling that restricted racial preferences in federal programs has led the Federal Communications Commission to consider reversing its policy of favoring women and minorities in awarding lucrative wireless licenses. "If women understand that their jobs are on the line and that right-wing conservatives are hitting them in the pocketbook," says Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, "women voters will take action."

How successful have women become in the three decades since affirmative action was mandated? It depends on their race and age. A MONEY investigation reveals that although most women have hardly achieved pay or power parity with men, many women, such as Mary Lynne Fanaro (see the photo at left), have been winners as a result of affirmative action. Fanaro, 37, owns Frehner Trucking, a Las Vegas hauler, along with her two sisters and brother. As a certified women-owned business, the 100-employee firm has snagged $5 million in federally funded state contracts from the Nevada Department of Transportation through the state's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program. Says Fanaro: "There's still a need for these programs because there is still bias and prejudice out there."

Our key findings about affirmative action and the state of women in the workplace today, based on interviews with more than two dozen government officials, employment experts, women's rights advocates and policy analysts:

WOMEN--ESPECIALLY WHITE WOMEN--ARE BRIDGING THE SALARY GAP WITH MEN, BUT BLACK AND HISPANIC WOMEN LAG FAR BEHIND. Over the past 15 years, the gap in men's and women's pay has narrowed. Today, women earn 76.4¢ for every dollar earned by men, vs. 62.5¢ in 1979. But black women earn only 66¢ of every dollar men earn, and Hispanic women earn 58¢.

YOUNGER WOMEN ALMOST REACH MEN'S EARNINGS. Women ages 25 to 34 earn 83¢ on the male dollar, while those ages 45 to 64 earn only 66¢, according to a report by the Older Women's League (OWL). That's because "after many older women have left the work force, they've returned and started again at lower rungs of the ladder," says OWL's Diana Porter.

BUT WOMEN STILL GET ONLY A TINY FRACTION OF GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS. Although women own 37% of all U.S. businesses, according to the research arm of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), women-owned firms receive no more than 2% of all primary federal contracts. "There is still an old-boy network in the purchasing arena," says NAWBO president Patty DeDominic.

AND ALTHOUGH WOMEN PROFESSIONALS HAVE GAINED GROUND, FEMALES ARE DRAMATICALLY ABSENT IN TOP JOBS. Women now account for 24% of lawyers (up from 5% in 1970), 19.4% of doctors (7.6% in 1970) and 8.3% of engineers (1.3% in 1973). Moreover, nearly three out of 10 (29.9%) lower and middle managerial positions in private industry are now filled by women, almost triple the percentage in 1966. But according to the federal Glass Ceiling Commission report released last March, women climb only so far: They represent a scant 4% of senior managers in the private sector. Why? "Employers are usually smart enough not to blatantly prevent women from getting promotions," says Deborah Swiss, co-author of Women and the Work/Family Dilemma (John Wiley & Sons, $14.95). "But the subtle stuff is no less destructive. If you take full maternity leave, for instance, it's often assumed your ambition has gone away."

SO MANY WOMEN CONTINUE TO FEEL THAT SEX DISCRIMINATION BARS THEM FROM EQUAL JOBS AND EQUAL PAY THAT RECORD NUMBERS HAVE FILED CHARGES. In 1994 alone, women filed 39,990 sex-discrimination charges against their employers with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, up from 30,040 in 1990 (see the chart on page 20).

INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR A BREAK IN THE GLASS CEILING, WOMEN ARE STRIKING OUT ON THEIR OWN. In the past three years, according to NAWBO, the number of women-owned businesses has increased 42% to almost 8 million, employing 35% more workers in the U.S. than all of the 1994 Fortune 500 companies employ worldwide.

With opposition to federal and state affirmative action programs growing, the best women can now hope for is status quo. Consider this: Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole is expected to craft "antipreferences" legislation that would prevent the government from using race or sex in awarding jobs or contracts.

In the meantime, if you'd like to find out more about programs that still benefit women, check these resources:

The 400-page U.S. GOVERNMENT PURCHASING AND SALES DIRECTORY (U.S. Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15250-7954; $24) explains how to bid for government business.

THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (800-827-5722) guarantees loans of up to $250,000 to small women-owned businesses in selected parts of the country. The SBA also offers advice from women's business ownership specialists.

Finally, if you think you suffer from sex discrimination on the job, get in touch with your nearest Equal Employment Opportunity Commission office or call the EEOC (800-669-4000) right away. Affirmative action or no, it's against the law to discriminate on the basis of sex.