Pity the woman embracing a male (5)
I believe the answer is:
shame
'pity' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the woman embracing a male' is the wordplay.
'the woman' becomes 'shae' (**).
'embracing' indicates putting letters inside.
'a male' becomes 'm' (common abbreviation).
'shae' placed around 'm' is 'SHAME'.
(Other definitions for shame that I've seen before include "Ignomony" , "scandal" , "disgraceful" , "pity!" , "Regrettable thing" .)