Uphold placing a female over company (6)
I believe the answer is:
affirm
'uphold' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'female over company' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'fa' (I've seen this in other clues).
'over' is a reversal indicator.
'company' becomes 'firm' (firm can mean a company or business).
'fa' written backwards gives 'af'.
'af'+'firm'='AFFIRM'
'placing a' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for affirm that I've seen before include "Assert to be the case" , "Declare one's commitment (to)" , "Make a formal declaration (rather than an oath)" , "Verify" , "Confidently put" .)