With a daughter of my own, there are so many things I hope to teach her. How to be independent (though she needs no help in that arena, already), how to use her voice and how to be confident, to name a few. However, I also know that teaching all of those things isn't just my responsibility. Sometimes, her dad will be able to reach her better than I can. Sometimes, she will listen more to him and follow his example. Sometimes, doing the teaching will simply fall on him. There are many things dads can teach their daughters and while I may feel left out, because she listens to him when he's teaching her the same thing I had tried to or wanted to, I'd rather her learn it from him than not learn it at all.
Moms are a very important part of their daughters lives, don't get me wrong. I don't think that highlighting the importance of one parent, regardless of gender, negates the importance of the other. I'm definitely not suggesting that daughters without fathers suffer in some way, as I know plenty of fatherless women who thrive in all areas of their lives. I just also realize that when two parents are active in a child's life, each parent has something important to offer. I absolutely don't think that there are certain lessons only a dad can teach, because kids with single mothers or two mothers or kids who have tragically lost their fathers early in their lives, can still learn the same values and important lessons that other kids get the opportunity to learn form their own dads. The important, life-shaping lessons we learn are not gender specific.
For my daughter, I'm here to help with certain things and my fiancé is here to help with others. My partner and I have found a "groove," so-to-speak, and are playing to our strengths while simultaneously assisting one another in our weaknesses, so that our daughter constantly benefits. There's some overlap, to be sure, and I know that my partner's gender doesn't make him more qualified to teach my daughter anything that I aim to teach her. I just know that if we teach these lessons, together, our daughter will be better for it.