The meaning of “live up to their misdeeds”

The passage below is from a book, On Apology. What I want to ask is the exact meaning of the underlined part.

(The address of the original text)
http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=YgSwTGvr47cC&pg=PA30&dq=%22live+up+to+their+misdeeds%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h8hcUeOmMMaQiAfKsIGABA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=live%20up%20to%20their&f=false

Showalter argues that "if literary heroes never apologize and rarely explain. . . it must be because male authors regard such actions as dishonorable." Showalter cites Ibsen's A Doll's House to support her argument.

Torvald, in refusing to apologize to his wife Nora, explains that he "would gladly work day and night" for her, but "no man would sacrifice his honor" [apologize] even for his loved one. Nora responds, "It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done." Showalter adds that, in contrast, female writers make men live up to their misdeeds, "forgiveness comes the hard way: you have to earn it."

I know “live up to” makes the meaning of “satisfy, fulfill, meet,” as in “live up to his parents' expectations.” But this meaning doesn’t make sense in the questioned sentence.

Let me tell you what I think, first. The following quotation sentence "forgiveness comes the hard way: you have to earn it" gives me the lead to the meaning of the underlined part. So The sentence reads like this, since it’s not easy to get apology from man, woman has to make man to “suffer for” their misdeeds. Hence, ‘live up to’ means ‘suffer for.’

What do you think of my train of thought? And can you give me any other example sentence of ‘live up to’ with this meaning?