Middlesbrough Women have been officially affiliated to the Championship club.
The team has played independently of the main club since its start in 1976 but has now merged with the men's side.
Middlesbrough Women play in the fourth tier of the women's game, in National League Division One North, where they finished tenth last season.
Some home games will be at Riverside Stadium and the women will train alongside the men at Rockliffe Park.
Mick Mulhern, who took Sunderland Women from the fifth tier to the top flight and an FA Cup final in his 15 years at the club, has been appointed manager after several years scouting for the FA, and says Boro general manager Ben Fisher tempted him back into the women's game.