Awful year without a single female representative (8)
I believe the answer is:
emissary
'representative' is the definition.
(I know that emissary is a type of representative)
'awful year without a single female' is the wordplay.
'awful' indicates anagramming the letters.
'without' is an insertion indicator ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'a single female' becomes 'miss'.
'year' is an anagram of 'eary'.
'eary' going around 'miss' is 'EMISSARY'.
(Other definitions for emissary that I've seen before include "Legate" , "Diplomatic messenger" , "Representative on special mission" , "Person sent to negotiate" , "Government messenger" .)