Area used by woman, stern (8)
I believe the answer is:
district
'area' is the definition.
(I know that area can be written as district)
'by woman stern' is the wordplay.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'woman' becomes 'di' (short for Diana).
'stern' becomes 'strict' (synonyms).
'di' put next to 'strict' is 'DISTRICT'.
'used' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for district that I've seen before include "A quarter" , "'Area, territory (8)'" , "Area of town/country" , "Territory, zone" , "Area of town or country" .)