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?
That’s kind of the opposite. You’re talking about using “female” as a noun instead of an adjective. And for sure, don’t do that to refer to humans! But it’s perfectly normal and correct as an adjective.