Eavesdrop on women fronting independent pop-up! (7)
I believe the answer is:
wiretap
'eavesdrop' is the definition.
(I know that wiretap is a more specific form of eavesdrop)
'women fronting independent pop-up' is the wordplay.
'women' becomes 'w' (standard abbreviation).
'fronting' says to take the initial letters (I've seen 'front of' mean this).
'pop' becomes 'pater' (synonyms).
'up' says the letters should be written backwards (in down clue: letters go upwards).
The initial letter of 'independent' is 'i'.
'pater' in reverse letter order is 'retap'.
'w'+'i'+'retap'='WIRETAP'
'on' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for wiretap that I've seen before include "Eavesdrop" , "cloak-and-dagger arrangement?" , "bug" , "eavesdropping" , "sneaky listen" .)