My children's Taekwondo instructor teaches a class for women on how to use mace and how to escape if someone grabs you. I think every woman should take a self-defense course and learn about what to watch for.
When I was in college, I was attacked while walking back from the stable to my car at about midnight (after a rodeo). I was walking between two dark outbuildings on a ranch I worked on and was jumped. I didn't have time to react before being knocked unconscious. Fortunately, another ranch hand found me when they saw that my car had not left yet. I spent almost a week in the hospital with a serious head injury, a cracked jaw, and cracked ribs. I was lucky to be alive and not in a coma. I thought it wouldn't happen to me. After that, I am terrified of the dark. My parents live on a ranch and I have a hard time walking more than a few feet outside the lights at night, even though it has been over fifteen years since I was attacked. Not that it would have helped, but I have taken self-defense courses and I have a concealed weapons permit and I carry a 357 magnum when I travel, as well as keep a loaded shotgun in my closet (where the kids cannot get to it.) My husband is a sharpshooter and my sister is an NRA gun instructor and managed a gun store my parents owned for years. I feel a woman cannot be too safe. Just my personal opinion, there.

annaK.......a tire beater is a wooden stick that is around 22" long, kinda like a minature baseball bat. You see policemen carry them around to beat their attackers. I thought it would be perfect for me to carry around in my car for protection.

Excuse the language in this video, but this one of the reasons I carry mace and a gun. This video is incredibly frightening if you place yourself in the shoes of the driver. I cannot imagine.

http://www.break.com/index/ptcruiser.html