Academic female, top lady becoming tender (7)
I believe the answer is:
proffer
'tender' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'academic female top lady' is the wordplay.
'academic' becomes 'prof'.
'female' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'top lady' becomes 'er' (I've seen this in other clues).
'prof'+'f'+'er'='PROFFER'
'becoming' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for proffer that I've seen before include "Submit" , "Hold out for acceptance" , "Hold forward" , "Present for acceptance" , "Propound" .)