Human nature and beliefs about it are fundamental to all liberal thinkers and how they view society and freedom. All liberal writers from Locke to Friedan take a positive view of human nature, rejecting the negative view espoused by writers such as Hobbes. The first consequence is that an optimistic view of human nature means that every individual has the potential to progress and develop (a belief coined ‘developmental freedom’ by J . S . Mill),  and that society should be constructed in such a way as to maximize this. Secondly, they believe that humans are fundamentally guided by reason, not fear or superstition, again an optimistic view of humanity. Therefore, reason should be encouraged by education and enlightenment — not surprisingly, many liberal thinkers such as T . H . Green supported educational reforms.  Finally, some feminist liberals, such as Wollstonecraft and Friedan, took an equally optimistic view of human nature across both genders. This meant they campaigned forcefully for women’s equality in both politics (getting the vote) and the workplace (equal pay, etc .)  This is seen in their works such as A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) and Feminist Mystique.  In summary, nearly all liberal thought can be traced back to a positive view of human nature. If liberals were not so optimistic, all their ideas about the role of freedom and the function of the state would look much weaker