Aasha Ishtiaq’s journey in electrical engineering has been a testament of resilience. As the first woman in her family to pursue the field, she excels in a male-dominated industry.
Now a power system modelling engineer at generator excitation specialists Excitation and Engineering Services (EES), Ishtiaq plays a critical role at the heart of the power sector. She conducts modelling of protection studies and high-performance excitation control for power systems – crucial requirements for keeping power stable, secure and reliable across national grids.
For Ishtiaq, engineering was never just a career; it was a quiet act of resistance in a system that didn’t expect her to succeed.
Growing up in Pakistan, Ishtiaq was drawn to logic and numbers from an early age. Encouraged by teachers, she excelled academically. While most of her classmates were planning careers in medicine or teaching, she found herself thinking about Pakistan’s worsening energy crisis instead.
“That was the tipping point for me,” she explained. “I didn’t want to work around the edges. I wanted to be right at the centre of how things function, and how they fail.”
With the encouragement of her father, himself a PhD graduate from the University of Wales, Ishtiaq applied to the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) in Taxila to study electrical engineering.
The decision was unconventional, both culturally and institutionally. At the time, UET Taxila, one of the country’s leading public-sector engineering institutions, had no on-campus women’s accommodation and few provisions for female students, especially in the electrical department.
Ishtiaq became the first woman in her family to enter the discipline, and one of just nine women in her entire cohort of 150 students.
As the degree progressed and students selected specialisms, her female peers opted for electronics, the only department with a female faculty member and where the barriers to entry were perceived as lower. Aasha chose power systems, the only woman to do so.
“There were people who told me I didn’t belong in the power sector,” she continued. “Some lecturers suggested I’d be better off in electronics, where the other women were. They said I was making things difficult – but I’d already decided, and I wasn’t going to change course.”
Her decision raised eyebrows. Power systems is a highly technical field, focusing on the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy at a national scale. It requires long hours, complex mathematical modelling and familiarity with high-voltage infrastructure. Ishtiaq not only kept pace, but excelled, achieving the highest marks in one of the programme’s core power modules.
Post-graduation
After graduating, Ishtiaq joined the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), Pakistan’s central utility responsible for managing the country’s high-voltage transmission network. At the time, she was one of a few women employed by the organisation. Her first posting was in the control centre in Islamabad, the operational hub overseeing real-time electricity flow across the national grid.
“On my first day, the director looked at me and said ‘What are you doing here? Women don’t work in control rooms,’” she recalls. “They gave me a token task, assuming I’d give up and ask to be reassigned.”
Instead, she studied the dispatch software, learned the load forecasts and repeatedly asked to be moved to the main floor, where operational decisions were made.
After months of persistence, Aasha was transferred to the dispatch centre – the first woman to take on the role.
She was part of the team that helped restore power during Pakistan’s nationwide blackout in 2015 and later became the first woman appointed to the national grid’s monitoring team. Here, she was responsible for stability analysis, frequency regulation and balancing supply and demand across thousands of kilometres of transmission lines.
“Once I got through the door, others started to follow,” she continued. “The culture didn’t change overnight, but it had started to shift.”
Navigating motherhood
In 2018, Ishtiaq gave birth to her son in Islamabad, a profound moment in both her personal and professional life.
Her son was born with a large ventricular septal defect (VSD), a serious heart condition, and Down syndrome. He required nasogastric feeding and constant care in the early months. With no family experience of additional needs, Aasha and her husband had to quickly adapt to a steep emotional and logistical learning curve.
While extended maternity leave allowed her to stay with her son through early surgeries and recovery, returning to work presented new challenges. Aasha’s office was based in a substation five minutes from home, and without remote working options, she arranged to bring her son in, setting up a cot beside her desk.
The family’s eventual move to the UK was largely motivated by her son’s needs. After exploring opportunities in Canada and Australia, her husband secured a sponsored role with DAGEM Power, and their son began attending a specialist school.
Aasha later joined EES, where she was greeted with a flexible and understanding work culture: “It’s a completely different mindset here,” she notes. “I’m fortunate to have found a team that recognises the realities of working parenthood.”
Mentoring for the future
Aasha’s career has been shaped by both giving and receiving guidance. From her early days navigating difficult decisions about university courses, to helping younger engineers overcome the same challenges she once faced, mentorship has been a steady theme throughout.
“I had some excellent teachers who acted as mentors, they helped me believe I could manage electrical engineering, even if it meant travelling twelve hours from home,” she explained. “Later, I was able to do the same for others. One of my junior colleagues once came to me facing similar challenges. I told her not to give up, to stay motivated and not be discouraged by what people say. That support can make all the difference.”
She’s also passionate about opening doors for the next generation of engineers, especially young women who might not see a clear path into the profession.
“At school, I didn’t even know undergraduate scholarships abroad existed. If I had, I might have aimed for a higher-ranking university,” Ishtiaq continued. “That’s why it’s so important for schools and universities to do more – to host workshops, bring in guest speakers from technical fields and show students what’s possible. Sometimes just hearing someone’s story can be enough to spark ambition.”
For International Women in Engineering Day, her message to the next generation is simple: “If you have a dream and you’re ambitious, go for it. Stay determined. You don’t need to be perfect – just keep going. You’ll get the reward eventually.”
EES is proud to support engineers like Aasha in delivering safe, reliable systems that keep power flowing across the globe. To learn more about how EES supports clients through commissioning and system integration, visit their commissioning page.
