Promoted before female made a mistake (9)
I believe the answer is:
preferred
'promoted' is the definition.
(preferring is a kind of promoting)
'before female made a mistake' is the wordplay.
'before' becomes 'pre'.
'female' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'made a mistake' becomes 'erred' ('err' can be a synonym of 'make a mistake').
'pre'+'f'+'erred'='PREFERRED'
(Other definitions for preferred that I've seen before include "Liked better" , "singled out" , "choice" , "Was partial to" , "Chose before others" .)