I found that the more I told my girlfriend about weather and possible system failure modes, the more concerned she has become about flying - not just ours but commercial flying too. She has a Philosophy PhD and is super bright and you would think an explanation of some risk factor would be accepted, but she has a point that when I am flying in IMC she asks "how can you be sure there is nothing lurking in there"? Fortunately I am no fan of long enroute IMC either...
GA pilots tend to have a gory interest in crashes, and the evidence thus far on the recent A380 "engine back end walkabout" suggests it was far more serious than what made the press. It is easy to get talking to one's family etc about these things, but it doesn't reduce their fears.
A good point about the copilot course but not many owners of the fairly advanced planes would let the typical PPL-scene instructor go off in their plane. Few instructors know about engine management for example.
But basically "normal" women tend to be more interested in the destinations, rather than flying there, and that's perfectly fine.
A nice clean modern plane does help a lot
