Social worker, female, put up aerial (7)
I believe the answer is:
antenna
'aerial' is the definition.
(I know that aerial can be written as antenna)
'social worker female put up' is the wordplay.
'social worker' becomes 'ant' (ants are social insects).
'female' becomes 'anne' (I've seen this before).
'put up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'anne' back-to-front is 'enna'.
'ant'+'enna'='ANTENNA'
(Other definitions for antenna that I've seen before include "receiver" , "Feature of dish" , "Insect's sensory appendage" , "connected to 41?" , "Transmitting aerial" .)