Military Archives - Infinite Women

Kathleen Best

In 1940 Best was appointed to the Australian Army Nursing Service, serving in the Middle East until 1942. She was the founding Director of the Australian Women’s Army Corps.

In 1977, Dorothy L. Starbuck became the first woman to lead the Veterans Administration, and almost immediately she argued that WASPs were not entitled to veterans’ benefits, because they were civilians, even though the women had been subject to military discipline, assigned top secret missions and many members were awarded service ribbons after their units were disbanded.

Tabriz warrior

A 2,000-year-old body found entombed with a sword was discovered in Tabriz, Iran—initially assumed to be male because of the sword, tests in 2004 confirmed it was a woman.

Tosia Altman

Jewish resistance fighter in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII

Tuva Scythian warror

A Scythian warrior girl, around 13 years old, buried in Tuva (Siberia), was discovered in 1988 and for more than three decades was assumed to be male until DNA sequencing was done in 2020.

Senbon Matsubara warriors

DNA tests on 105 sets of human remains from the Battle of Senbon Matsubara in 1580 showed that 35—exactly one-third—of these Japanese warriors were female.

Phum Snay warriors

Several women were buried in Phum Snay, Cambodia with metal swords and helmets between the 1st and 5th centuries CE, discovered in 2007.

Birka Viking

The Viking warrior interred in Birka, Sweden was assumed that she was a man for almost 130 years (discovered in 1889) until DNA tests proved otherwise in 2017. Then, despite being buried with several artefacts that indicate she was a high-ranking warrior, several historians suddenly refused to believe she was a warrior—a supposition they had no problem with whatsoever when they thought she was male.