Gov. Ernie Fletcher would have to replace 40 top male employees with women to match the number of women in leadership jobs in the final year of Paul Patton's term in office, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The number of top government posts held by women shrank when Fletcher took office in 2003, with women holding 36 percent of top jobs, compared with 42 percent at the start of Patton's final year, The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported. The newspaper based its analysis on a review of state employment records under the two governors.