Fairly simple:

Female as an adjective: acceptable, except when used unnecessarily to suggest their being female is an "other" category or otherwise seems irrelevant (e.g. "I went to the female podiatriast to get my ingrown toenail taken care of" or "I got cut off by a female driver on my way to work.")

Female as a noun: unacceptable, except in descriptive reports or scientific/medical references where the use of "female" can essentially be short for "female subject", (e.g. "white female, five foot seven, blonde, with a tattoo on right forearm" or "the female of the species tends to be larger than the males...")

Basically, adjective: yes, when relevant

Noun: no, unless your are specifically supposed to by policy or convention.

Not sure, but I think of woman as a noun and female more commonly as an adjective.