This week marked a defining date in the calendar for working women in Australia – the date on which women will essentially work for free by the end of the year due to the gender pay gap, which is between 11 and 20 percent, according to new research.

It’s a topic that just won’t go away, and rightly so. But what often strikes me is that we spend a lot of time talking about just one side of the problem: what needs to change for women.

This is, of course, essential to shifting the balance, and as a single mother of two, I have had first-hand experience of the different expectations placed on women and how this reflects on the workplace.

Yet I am also acutely aware that we cannot solve this problem by looking at only half the story.

While this view may be somewhat controversial, men also experience the negative impact of presidential culture in Australia, particularly in the workplace.

The ideal of masculinity, while evolving, still has a long way to go if we are to fully realize an egalitarian environment, especially when it comes to working parents.

I have heard dozens of accounts from my male friends expressing the pressure they felt, either through indirect cultural expectations or explicit verbal instructions, to prioritize their careers above all else, including family – whether it’s their relationships or their children.