Let $G$ be a group of order $2n$, where $n$ is odd; show that there exists a normal subgroup $H$ of index $2$ and show that this subgroup is characteristic as well.
My work:
I was able to notice that there exist an element $x$ of period $2$ in $G$ (by Sylow theorems) and considering the usual injective homomorphism induced by left multiplication: $$\varphi:G\to \text{Sym}(G)$$ we can see that the period of $\varphi (x) =2$ which implies that $\varphi (x)$ is odd so $G$ does not inject into $A_{2n}$ but I don't know how to continue.
Thanks in advance