Congrats! Looks like you got yourself a real keeper here.
I've found that the ladies can certainly shoot the harder kicking guns, if they're brought along gradually.
I start them out with a .22 LR pistol, until they're comfortable with good trigger mechanics, at which point, I'll use my Glock 17 that's equipped with a lighter recoil spring, in combination with some lightly loaded, subsonic 115 grain rounds (one of my custom, "bunny fart" loads). Once they're used to firing their first centerfire pistol, I'll swap out the lighter recoil assembly with the stock factory recoil rod / spring, and then use handloads that are similar to the plinking fodder from Winchester (white box, USA ammo).
Eventually, I graduate them on to my 124 grain NATO-spec loads (124 grain bullet, 1220 fps). By this time, the noise / recoil isn't an issue anymore. Once they get used to this, I take the next step, and let them try my Glock 20, using the FBI-spec 10 mm loads (180 grain bullet, 900 fps), the one that an old colleague of mine used to mock as being "minus P" loads...
The recoil of the Glock 20, in combination with softer shooting, subsonic 180 grainers, is actually mider than shooting a .40 pistol with a similar .40 load, since the frame is wider, there's a bit more mass, and a slightly longer barrel. It really doesn't take very long for the ladies to get used to this combination.
So far, out of the 8 that I've let use the 10 mm pistol, 7 of them wanted to try "the real thing," meaning the Norma-spec 10 mm loads that I make (180 grainer, 1300 fps).
All in all, building them up to that point is more of a long term project, but it's a very rewarding one, and to see many of them trying their hand at IDPA, IPSC, USPSA, or GSSF matches, gives me a feeling of the warm fuzzies...
