Less than 50% of women do without support financially (5)
I believe the answer is:
endow
'support financially' is the definition.
'less than 50 of women do without' is the wordplay.
'less than 50 of' indicates a hidden word (hidden in less than 50 percent of the letters).
'ENDOW' is hidden within 'women do without'.
(Other definitions for endow that I've seen before include "Give permanent income to" , "Settle an income or property on" , "Give qualities or abilities to" , "Provide capital to ensure an income for an institution" , "Present with a source of income" .)