Born: 24 June 1914, France
Died: 24 February 2008
Country most active: France
Also known as: Pearl Cornioley, Marie or Pauline
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
Such attitudes are particularly infuriating in light of the battles women have had to wage just to be allowed into the armed forces, and recognised as such when they have served. Historically, women have been grouped into supposedly civilian roles even as they perform the same duties as men in the armed forces and are frequently sent into war zones. The women of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) who spied—and often died—in service to their country during World War II often received commendations that were explicitly designated for “civilians.” Even when the SOE as an agency recommended women like Pearl Witherington (who led an SOE network of around 2,000 fighters in France) for military commendation, the government was likely to change it to a civilian version.