I've met a fair amount of women walking (and camping) alone, in the UK and in France. One young woman I met in the Pyrenees in 2015 carried a machete in a leather scabbard, "just in case", her dad bought it for her!
Whilst on the Stevenson Way, I wild camped and a passing young woman, near dusk (she was from Brittany) just stopped, said hello, chatted with me for a few minutes and then camped beside me for the night. I left early, never saw her again.
On the Pennine Way, prior to 2015, I was sitting on a rock eating a sandwich, when a young woman came towards me, said hello and just sat with me and ate her food. The most perturbing thing was, whilst chatting away she just took her trousers off, down to her underwear and then put her shorts on! I believe the term is, she was comfortable in her skin! Then whilst still chatting, she took her top off, down to her bra and changed the top for another one. All I could was blink! She told me she was an accountant in the NHS, used to go camping with her dad and even though he had now died she always hiked somewhere two or three times a year.
My first wife for example, came from Gloucester and worked as a Civil Servant in Tunbridge Wells. This was in the 60s, she used to hitchike back and forth to her home before we met. She always carried a 6" Bowie knife in her bag, as she used to say, if any driver got the least bit 'fruity', (a 60s term?) she would just casually pull out her knife, they always stopped! Again, her dad, who worried about her, bought it for her! I always admired her for that, a real flower power gal!