I’m not a native English speaker, so forgive my ignorance, but isn’t “women” a noun, not an adjective? Why not just say “female artists” or “female writers”?
As a side note, I’ve also literally never seen anyone say “men artists” or “men writers”. What gives?
I recognize that “female” is sometimes taken this way now, but I seem to remember a time when it was the use of “woman” as an adjective that seemed more problematic. I grew up watching TV reruns from the 50s & 60s, and in shows from that era, you’d hear characters intended to be seen as sexist railing about “women drivers”, “women reporters”, etc. To my (admittedly young) ear, part of the insult or intended derision in these terms came from the intentional clunkiness of the terms. As no one would say “man driver” or “man reporter”, it made the phrase “woman driver” seem unnatural, and by extension then the idea of a woman driver unnatural. If the characters had used the more clinical sounding “female driver”, it would likely only come off as equivalent to “male driver”, and so lose much of its punch.
I realize that there is now some ick associated with some uses of the word female, but if efforts aren’t made to reclaim it, I think we are doomed to it becoming strictly pejorative - and who wants that?