The 2. Frauen-Bundesliga is the second league competition for women's association football in Germany. For its first 14 seasons the league was divided into two groups: Nord and Süd. The winner and the runner-up are promoted to the Bundesliga (unless they are reserve teams of Bundesliga sides); the last three places are relegated to the Regionalliga. Until the 2017–18 season, in each group, the winner was promoted and the bottom two were relegated.

The league has been played as one group of 14 teams since the 2018–19 season, with second teams of clubs being ineligible for promotion and allowed to have only three players older than 20 years.

For the 2020–21 season only, the 2. Frauen-Bundesliga was divided into two groups of 10 and nine teams each due to the relegation being suspended for the 2019–20 season as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. The two group winners were promoted to the Frauen-Bundesliga for the 2021–22 season. From the 2021–22 season, a single group was used again.