They can always find a bit of work for their partners (5)
I believe the answer is:
women
'partners' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'they can always find a bit of work for' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'bit' could be 'o' (resembles 0, a binary digit or bit) and 'o' is found in the answer.
'work' could be 'w' (physics abbreviation) and 'w' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'men' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'their' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for women that I've seen before include "half of our race" , "Adult human females" , "Ladies" .)