I taught my wife a long time ago, when I’m not around, SHE needs to be able to protect the kids. So I got her VERY proficient with a couple different handguns (I am a certified instructor) and she took to them like a duck to water.
She - and my daughter too - likes the .45 (Glock 21).
If my family hadn’t lost all their weapons in that horrible boating accident ... We could relate.