In French, must a pronoun be present in front of the conjugated verb?

The answer to your question is yes, the pronoun must be present before the conjugated verb, EXCEPT in the imperative.

With that in mind, "Suis une femme" means "follow a woman", since "Suis" is the 2nd person singular and also the imperative of "suivre" - "to follow"

Its SO mandatory Je is the subject suis is the verb and une femme in this case is adjective its like trying to say I am a woman and saying Am a woman

In formal French, in a statement, the pronoun is almost always mandatory. For emphasis you add a stressed pronoun : "Moi, je suis une femme".

In written French you must put in the subject pronoun. It is obligatory since, although you can see the difference between the various conjugations of the verb, you cannot hear the difference. In spoken colloquial French, sometimes people leave them out, as in colloquial English, but if you're writing an essay or a book, put them in. If you are talking about objects pronouns, though, these need not always be present, as in English. It depends what you're saying.

One exception is typical. In a command, you normally do not express the "you" which is either understood to be "tu" or "vous" as in English. This is the imperative.

You cannot say "Suis une femme" (like in Spanish). "Je" is mandatory in this sentence: a subject is needed.

In modern French, the pronoun is necessary. This is because many times the verb tenses have silent endings and are otherwise indistinguishable:

(je) parle

(tu) parles

(il) parle

(ils) parlent

However, I think in poetry or other super-stylized instances there may be some flexibility (like in English).

Yes, it is, albeit you may omit the pronoun at times, I should say that even when ambiguity is impossible, use the pronoun.

Au revoir!

***One never uses a pronoun in the imperative!!!!*****

Italian and Spanish don't use pronouns if you have some particular aversion of them.

yes except in "mode impérative"

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