While women still earn a fraction of a man's wage in the United States, there is one niche where women are eking out an advantage -- and please check your stereotypes at the door. It's not fashion, or child care, or as spokespeople for psychic hotlines (though I think someone should look into that...). It's the boardroom.

Unbelievably, a report by Corporate Library that looked at pay data from more than 25,000 directors at 3,200+ companies found that women were paid more, on average, then men; $120,000 for women versus a median of $104,375 for men. Of course, given their much smaller numbers -- female directors are outnumbered by males, eight-to-one -- it's not exactly reason to take out our party hats, ladies.

The report doesn't theorize as to why, exactly, women are paid more. I wonder if it's due to the demand for a "product" in limited supply -- directors tend to be officers for other corporations, judges, or other highly-ranked folks. Far fewer of these are women. Hence, the women who are available to serve as directors must be paid more to lend their female presence.

Alternatively, it could be the simple fact that larger companies are more likely to desire diversity on their boards; and it is the larger companies who pay more. I wonder where newly-appointed News Corporation board member, 27-year-old Natalie Bancroft, fits on the director pay scale?

My best girlfriend from business school, Jaime, just announced that she was quitting her job as a management consultant and taking a position at PepsiCo in the corporate strategy department. Evidently she's not the only smart, financially savvy woman PepsiCo values; today, the beverage giant announced that current CFO Indra K. Nooyi would be taking over as CEO effective October 1, when current chief Steven Reinemund steps down from the position "to spend more time with his family." He'll be retiring in May, and will continue as Chairman of PepsiCo's board until then.

Indra will join 10 other women currently in the CEO position at Fortune 500 companies (by market capitalization, she'll be the second-most important, behind Patricia Woertz at ADM). Analysts seem to be roundly thrilled, calling Nooyi a "star" (Citigroup's Bonnie Herzog) and marking this promotion as an indication there is "enough to keep Ms. Nooyi interested at Pepsi" (Bank of America's Bryan Spillane).

I see it as no coincidence that a valued friend would move to the company at the same time an obviously brilliant woman takes over the CEO role. This can only mean good things for Pepsi. Investors seem to be cheering, too, and have sent the stock up 57 cents to $63.90 so far today, within pennies of a 52-week (and, in fact, all-time) high.

Sarah Gilbert has a Wharton MBA and worked in investment banking for several years, then at a series of increasingly edgy startups before finding her calling, producing blogs for AOL. She doesn't own stock in Pepsi.