Signal not to go after a woman, one who wasn't ready? (8)
I believe the answer is:
ethelred
'one who wasn't ready?' is the definition.
(English king Ethelred the Unready)
'signal not to go after a woman' is the wordplay.
'signal not to go' becomes 'red' (as in a red traffic light).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'a woman' becomes 'ethel' (I've seen this before**).
'red' put after 'ethel' is 'ETHELRED'.
(Other definitions for ethelred that I've seen before include "English king from 978" , "English king between nine hundred and seventy-eight and ten hundred and sixteen" , "King of England" , "Old king" , "Baleen used to stiffen corsets, etc" .)