Females in numerous employments (5)
I believe the answer is:
muses
'females' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'numerous employments' is the wordplay.
'numerous' becomes 'm' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'employments' becomes 'uses' ('use' can be a synonym of 'employment').
'm'+'uses'='MUSES'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for muses that I've seen before include "Meditates on the nine goddesses" , "Nine goddesses of the liberal arts" , "'Nine daughters of Zeus, inspirations for artists (5)'" , "Ponders like nine goddesses of Roman myth" , "Sources of artists' inspiration" .)