Twisted women step on ladder (5)
I believe the answer is:
wrung
'twisted' is the definition.
(wringing is a kind of twisting)
'women step on ladder' is the wordplay.
'women' becomes 'w'.
'step on ladder' becomes 'rung' (I've seen this before).
'w'+'rung'='WRUNG'
(Other definitions for wrung that I've seen before include "Squeezed and twisted" , "Twisted and compressed" , "Coerced" .)