There’s a traditional saying in Myanmar that goes “treat your husband as a God and treat your son as a boss”.

Win May Htway knows it well. As a young girl in Myanmar, this phrase summed up what was expected of her and how she should act.

Win May, however, had different plans.

“I have always seen myself as a person not guided much by traditional norms,” she says.

Win May has made a career out of defying the expectations in a country that has tried to put limits on what she should hope to achieve.

She is one of three local women who have risen to the role of Country Director in the six national offices that ChildFund Australia manages.

Inspired by the line “the child is father of the man” from a William Wordsworth poem she read in school, Win May has dedicated her life to promoting equality and opportunities in Myanmar.

“The social and cultural norms that affect girls still persist in our society,” she says. “Gender should not be a barrier for girls to have the same opportunities as boys to develop to full potential,” she says.

“Not just in Myanmar but everywhere; every child and youth must have the same rights and opportunities to grow to their potential because everyone is a human being, a person, regardless of their gender.”