I told my wife about this thread and she reminded me that she joined a "women only" shooting club. At the introductory lesson, in March, the club provided a variety of .22 handguns and each woman had to try them all to see what type they liked. Then, with prefered type in mind, they shot larger caliber handguns until they found what they were comfortable with.
Several of the woman had guns that their husbands had given them the previous Christmas. Half of those with their own guns did not like them and ended up trading for another.
Let your wife choose. You'll both be happier.
BTW, when I said "women only" that is absolute. Husbands, boyfriends, fathers, neighbors, cannot be anywhere near the range when they train. They do have two male instructors, though.
Pat