While there are exceptions to the frequent-enough-to-be-prevailing practice of overlooking daughters in family businesses, women have traditionally had to overcome significant obstacles to achieve leadership positions . It’s not uncommon for an older and even more qualified daughter to be passed over for a younger male sibling. In some cultures daughters do not participate in the family’s transfer of wealth across generations, and it’s often expected that the daughter to be taken care of by her husband.

On the plus side, daughters are often seen as more cooperative in their relationship with their father than sons who can have more competitive dispositions. And where there are good relationships between fathers and daughters in a family business, the mother may experience a loss of her daughter to the husband, as the father’s and daughter’s conversations about business get carried into the home.

It’s been voiced that women do not have the dexterity to manage the complexities of business. We can see the myth in this, however, as we recognize that women are frequently shouldering and balancing responsibilities for childcare and domestic chores while providing emotional and financial support single-handedly. Anne Francis wrote in her seminal work, The Daughter Also Rises, “women often find a direct correlation between domestic life and the situations they face in business – if you can figure out whether the four year old or the six year old gets the last piece of candy, you can negotiate any contract in the world.”

I am of the persuasion that we will all benefit by stepping back from stereotypes and looking at the strengths, which women can bring to relationships in business – as all business is dependent on relationships.