Women could not handle the 10mm.
They switched to 40 cal.
Guess now that is too much.
They wouldn't be so bad if all the manufacturers didn't insist on stuffing them into undersized 9mm frames. The only .40s I've shot that were adequately sized for the round are an H&K and a Sig.
You're half correct. Not too much for the women, but excessive for the 9mm-frame sized guns in which they were using the cartridge, the Glock 22 large frame or Glock 23 medium. Depending on the frequency of qualification and other shooting training, the guns were being beaten apart in a few thousand rounds; this has been known since at least 2006 when the Indiana State Police noted the problem with their SWAT team guns.