The affliction of a motherly woman? (6)
I believe the answer is:
malady
'the affliction' is the definition.
(malady is a kind of health problem)
'motherly woman?' is the wordplay.
'motherly' becomes 'ma' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'woman?' becomes 'lady' (lady is a kind of woman).
'ma'+'lady'='MALADY'
'of a' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for malady that I've seen before include "Afflication" , "Sickness, ailment" , "affection" , "Illness or disease" , "Sickness or disease" .)