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The Wall Street Journal reports on a Transportation Department program that makes the 10 percent of federal highway contracts previously reserved for disadvantaged minorities also available to all women, regardless of race. That program is the only federal affirmative-action plan that cites women as a disadvantaged class. The Transportation Department began including women in 1987 to the protests of black leaders and business owners who say white women are just as privileged as white men. White women disagree, saying black men have it easier in business because men are more accepted in the construction industry. To illustrate the conflict, The Wall Street Journal tells the story of Janet Schutt, the owner of an Indiana bridge-building firm, who started the Indiana Women's Business Enterprise Association to battle black leaders lobbying to push women out of the Transportation Department program.

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