Son in failing action on women's panel (8)
I believe the answer is:
wainscot
'panel' is the definition.
(I know that wainscot is a type of panel)
'son in failing action on women's' is the wordplay.
'son' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation for son).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'failing' indicates anagramming the letters.
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'women' becomes 'w' (standard abbreviation).
'action' is an anagram of 'aincot'.
's' going within 'aincot' is 'ainscot'.
'ainscot' put after 'w' is 'WAINSCOT'.
(Other definitions for wainscot that I've seen before include "Fine quality oak" , "Wooden board at the bottom of a wall" , "Wooden room lining/panelling" , "Panelling on lower part of interior walls" , "I go up the wall" .)