Socialist woman's circle that is misleading (3,7)
I believe the answer is:
red herring
'socialist woman's circle that is misleading' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.
'socialist woman's circle' is the wordplay.
'socialist' becomes 'red' (red is a kind of socialist).
'woman's' becomes 'her'.
'circle' becomes 'ring' (synonyms).
'red'+'her'+'ring'='RED HERRING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for red herring that I've seen before include "It may well put you off" , "An irrelevance" , "False lead" , "(Fishy) diversion" , "bait, of a certain sort" .)