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I wonder are there any other cases when prefix по- indicates feminine gender?
I can recall some nouns with по- prefix, like постель or повесть, but this words have roots that are also feminine.
On the other hand, there are plenty of words with по- prefix which are masculine, for example, поручик.
So, how come друг's feminine form is подруга, can someone shed light on the etymology of this form?
Подруга is a derivative of подружиться, compare полюбовница, побратим etc.
This prefix is not productive for forming feminine in Russian so this is just an ad hoc form.
CS for this word would be другиня and I believe Old Russian had a similar form. In modern Ukrainian it means "wife" (дружина in modern form), so most probably подруга replaced the old form to separate the meanings.
другиня is not relatively new form, kind of XVIII century neologism, build by analogy, as богиня or героиня. I've found that it has been used by Vasily Trediakovsky, who is known as a great appreciator of neologisms.
XVI text.
постельиповестьare a completely differnt case.постельis based on the verbпостелить, whereпоmakes it the perfect form of the imprerfect verbстелить.повестьis based onповествование.