The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 1 plus 5 plus 5 plus 1 plus 3 plus 4 plus 1 plus 4 plus 5 plus 1 plus 7 letter word A WOMAN NEEDS A MAN LIKE A FISH NEEDS A BICYCLE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
A
W
O
M
A
N
N
E
E
D
S
A
M
A
N
L
I
K
E
A
F
I
S
H
N
E
E
D
S
A
B
I
C
Y
C
L
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "stated conviction on female independence" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case stated conviction on female independence = a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.