She finally joins up to get respect (6)
I believe the answer is:
esteem
'respect' is the definition.
(I know that respect is a kind of fear)
'she finally joins up' is the wordplay.
'finally' indicates one should take the final letters.
'joins' becomes 'meets' (meeting is a kind of joining).
'up' is a reversal indicator (in down clue: letters go upwards).
The final letter of 'she' is 'e'.
'meets' back-to-front is 'steem'.
'e'+'steem'='ESTEEM'
'to get' is the link.
(Other definitions for esteem that I've seen before include "Favourable regard" , "Look upon favourably" , "Set a high value on" , "Think highly of, have regard for" , "gain respect" .)