I have two female friends, both around 50 that grew up in homes where there was no vehicle. Both taught themselves how to drive manual shift cars and both still drive manual shift cars. One of the women had to buy a car when she did student teaching. She bought a Renault LeCar from her neighbor. She taught herself how to drive the car in less than a day. Her stories about the LeCar and its problems are hilarious. When she did land a job, she traded the LeCar for a Honda Civic with a manual transmission and she has had manual transmission Hondas since that time. She commutes about 40 minutes each way to work in heavy traffic, but gets along just fine. The other woman didn’t start driving until she graduated from college. She taught herself to drive a standard shift and last I knew still drives a standard shift.
My son had stayed away from manual shift cars. However, he married a woman who brought a 5speed manual Ford Mustang to the marriage. She then developed back problems and is uncomfortable driving the Mustang. My son figured out the manual right away and drives it as if he had been driving manual transmissions all his life. At one time, he bought a manual transmission pick up truck. Back in the late 1950’s when I started driving, the cars that were owned by parents of some of my friends were automatics, so that is all some of my friends had ever driven. However, a couple of them bought Volkswagens for their first cars and had no trouble learning to shift. I haven’t owned a manual transmission since 1975, since the used cars I found had automatics and the new minivans I have purchased were only available with automatic transmissions. Given a choice, I still prefer a manual transmission.
The point is that your daughters can learn the manual transmission and may even prefer driving one.