Every girl's secret weapon: her doting dad

Fathers have more impact than mothers on their daughters' academic and career success and on their ability to create loving, trusting relationships with men.

The girl who is mentored by her father grows up into a woman who deals well with people in authority, especially men, according to Linda Neilsen, author of Embracing Your Father: Building the Relationship you want with Your Dad.

The daughters of men who actively father tend to be more self-confident, more willing to try new things, and have better mental health, particularly in relation to the appropriate expression of anger.

An effective mother gives father and daughter space, even if she disagrees with the father's parenting style. In fact, mothers who work outside the home and rely on fathers to take on their share of the parenting reap the benefits when it comes to producing more confident daughters.

Kirsten Sheridan, award-winning film director and co-writer - with her father Jim Sheridan and sister Naomi - of In America, has told The Irish Times: "He has been a great encouragement all the way. Of course there is a shadow there, but I like it, it is a comfy shadow." Just as Naomi Wolf grew up having Rilke and Yeats quoted at her, Kirsten was tutored with lines from Beckett. "In a funny way, Dad is so up in the clouds, and to go up there with him is kind of amazing . . . He wouldn't do that unless we were working together," she told the LA Times.

Sir Bob Geldof has justified the precocious media profiles of his teenage daughters Peaches (16) and Pixie (14) with the explanation: "It's the family job." A single father of four girls since the death of his estranged wife Paula Yates, Geldof is a conservative, hands-on father, giving his girls space but also there when they need him.

Cecelia Ahern, whose third best-selling novel has just been published, has a media-savvy beyond her years, thanks to the difficult role of being daughter of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. "Politics is his absolute passion . . . It makes him happy. He does it 24/7. With Dad, for the amount of time he puts into it, it has to be a passion," she told The Irish Times last year. Following his example, Cecelia has found her passion, which she follows 24/7, working all night if need be. Her graceful reaction to sour grapes shows a mettle that's a classic sign of a woman with a supportive father. "I've grown up reading awful things about Dad, and, yeah, things do sting a bit, but it wears off." Accusations that the publishing world has been silly enough to promote Cecilia merely because of who her father is haven't affected her confidence.

Fathers help in many ways: not just showing by example, but also giving advice and contacts. Alexandra McGuinness, daughter of Paul McGuinness and Kathy Gilfillan, was supported by both her parents when she went to London at the age of 17 to make her fortune as an actor, rather than taking the traditional academic route. Now a scriptwriter, Alexandra has stated: "[ My father has] been handling my script deals for me. He's been great, very supportive. He always tells me the truth. He says what he thinks."

Well for some, the cynic may say, but there's a lesson in it for parents, no matter who they are. Daughters following fathers into medicine, law and business are less likely to hit the headlines, although their work often does. Bernadette Gallagher, daughter of PV Doyle, and a board member of the Smurfit School of Business at UCD, led her family's strategy in the negotiations and sale of the Jury's site in Ballsbridge last year. With a reputation as a smart businesswoman, she has an intimate knowledge of the hotel business that didn't fall from the sky.

Galen Weston appointed his 32-year-old Irish-Canadian-British daughter, Alannah Weston, as creative director of Selfridges and Brown Thomas. She developed an original style of "retail theatre" that is close to conceptual art and has made Selfridges a style destination superior to Liberty's and Harrod's. "Retail is in my blood. I grew up in stores in Canada and Ireland," she has stated. Intelligent mothers such as Hilary Weston, Kathy Gilfillan and Miriam Ahern have played their parts too, obviously, but would their daughters have been as successful without that secret weapon, the father who dotes on them?