You could, I don't think females show aggression to each other... (just googled, couldn't find any mention of females attacking females) but I'm honestly not sure how aggressive Pearl Gourami really get. What was the stock plan again? If you just get one male, I don't think you'll have problems.
Anyway, to avoid aggression for sure your choices would be:
1 male pearl gourami
12 neon tetras
OR
2 female pearl gourami
12 neon tetras
And then for bottom feeders - were you going with corydoras?
If you go with a dwarf species (habrosus is my favorite and the best bottom-hugging) you could have 12 just fine in there.
If you go with standard corydoras (julii, sterbai, trilineatus, panda), you could do 6.