Soaring over gender stereotypes in Lebanon.

The country's first female pilot is currently paving the way for more women to join the male-dominated cockpits of the national carrier.

Lebanon's first female Capitan says a lot of people needed convincing that she was up to the job.

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANON'S FIRST WOMAN CAPTAIN, ROLA HOTEIT, SAYING: "The first challenge was to convince my family.

The second challenge was for the society to be convinced, it was very hard for the society to go into the cockpit and find the captain is a woman.

Many times, they were like 'oh, we are putting our hand on our heart' and even, once, a passenger got off the plane." Hoteit has been a pilot for a decade and now she wants to help other women conquer the skies.

But new recruits can still face the same discrimination she did.

25-year-old first officer, Erica Chbeir, says she's also faced difficult passengers.

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FIRST OFFICER, ERICA CHBEIR, SAYING: "My first flight was about a year ago and it was really nice, no one made me feel the difference between men and women, but one passenger made me feel the difference because as she was boarding the plane, she saw me and did not want to get on board of the plane anymore." In February, Lebanon appointed the Arab world's first female interior minister.

Prising open a wider foothold for women in its overwhelmingly male-dominated political scene.

These young graduates proving the sky's the limit.