The woman in North America turned pale (5)
I believe the answer is:
ashen
'pale' is the definition.
('ashen' can be a synonym of 'pale')
'the woman in north america turned' is the wordplay.
'the woman' becomes 'she' (I've seen this before**).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'north america' becomes 'na'.
'turned' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'na' written backwards gives 'an'.
'she' put into 'an' is 'ASHEN'.
(Other definitions for ashen that I've seen before include "of Tree" , "Unhealthily pale" , "Visibly shocked" , "Looking pale from illness" , "pale in colour" .)