ISLAMABAD, March 7 Ambreen made history by becoming one of the country's first women fighter pilots, but had to swap her flight schedule for an arranged marriage with a stranger.

“It's all set and planned, but I haven't talked to him,” she admits, her face scrubbed clean and wearing a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jumpsuit, a far cry from the make-up and ornate dress she would wear for the wedding.

The wedding between Flight-Lt Ambreen Gul, 25, and an engineer from Islamabad was arranged by their families.

On the eve of the International Women's Day, she was to be married to a man she had only seen once and with whom she had barely exchanged a word.

According to the United Nations, only 40 per cent of adult women in Pakistan are literate. Women are victims of violence and abuse, and the country still lacks a law against domestic violence.

But in 2006, seven women broke into one of the country's most exclusive male clubs to graduate as fighter pilots -- perhaps the most prestigious job in the powerful military and for six decades closed to the fairer sex.

Ambreen's father, a company manager, was delighted. Ironically it was her mother, a housewife, who initially feared her daughter would bring shame on the family.

“It was because of our eastern culture. She thought people would say, 'Why are you letting your daughter go out of the home?'”

She and 26-year-old Flight-Lt Nadia Gul say PAF is a trailblazer for women's rights. As respected officers with a Rs60,000 monthly salary, they are living out their dreams.

“It's a profession of passion. One has to be extremely motivated. I love flying. I love to fly fighter jets, to do something for my country that is very unique,” said a smiling Ambreen, her hair stuffed into a ponytail.

Signing up aged 18, only a handful of girls beat homesickness and stiff competition to pass a six-month selection process and graduate after three-and-a-half years of training.

“It was the toughest time we've ever faced,” Ambreen said.

During a training flight on an F-7, she once blacked out for a few seconds before survival reflexes kicked in.

Nadia, whose army captain husband is serving on the front line of the war against the Taliban in the mountains of Swat, won a prize for academic achievement at PAF's first women fighter pilot graduation.

“It was the first time. It was history,” she said, a bottle-green hijab covering most of her hair and tucked into her padded pilot's jacket.

“I was just a girl who went to college and came back home.

But now I'm in a great profession,” Nadia said.

Commanding male subordinates, they bat aside any question of sexism or men who don't take kindly to being ordered about by a woman.

They love the respect that comes with official fighter pilot status in the armed forces -- the wealthiest institution in Pakistan.

“Families are very fascinated. Everyone's very impressed,” Nadia said, describing her husband as “very supportive” and “proud”.

Forbes ranked Pakistan this year as the fourth most dangerous country in the world.

Officers say only a tiny elite -- and no women — actually fly in combat in the tribal belt.

While PAF is outwardly very proud of its women pilots, some wonder privately whether women are strong enough to reach the top of the profession.

But flying transport and cargo planes, ferrying VIPs like ministers around the country, Nadia feels women's lot is improving and takes issue with western perceptions of Pakistan as backward.

“PAF are giving us this chance on an equal basis. It was really a bold step that Pakistan Air Force has taken in recruiting lady fighter pilots,” she said.

In a country where extended family is important and most middle-class women rely on servants for household work and child-minding, Ambreen and Nadia may be saved some of the problems faced by women in the West.

They believe marriage and — in the future — motherhood can complement, not replace, a career, “provided you have a supportive family”.—AFP