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Perhaps it is both women and men's fault. For instance, me and my wife don't have kids yet and are both still in graduate school. A couple of semesters ago she switched schools midsemester and had to take the spring semester off. With her home, I found that I was more punctual about going home in the 5 to 6pm range. Now it's back to 7 to 8pm when I head home. My assumption is that with someone at home around 5pm, whether it's wife, kids or any combination of those, I'd be heading home earlier.
So what's the overall effect? If you are single or married-both-working-no-kids, you end up working longer hours. This can happen even if the entire workforce is separated by gender. Workplaces are competitive and so these longer-working folks put an upward pressure on the time people with kids spend at work. So right now, both me and my wife are making the working day longer for everyone.
It seems like the real solution is for everyone to simply close the office and turn out the lights at 5pm. I only wish I could force myself to do that.
