All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The Maniyy (semen) of a woman is yellow and thin as confirmed in a Hadeeth from the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam: “The man’s water is thick and white and the woman's water is thin and yellow.” [Muslim]
What is meant here by water is the Maniyy and not all discharges, and the fact that the Maniyy of the woman is yellow is the general case, as interpreted by the scholars of Hadeeth. An-Nawawi said in his commentary on the above Hadeeth:
“The woman's water is thin and yellow. This is a great principle concerning the characteristics of Maniyy. These are its characteristics during health and in general. … As regards the Maniyy of the woman, it is thin and yellow, and it may become white because of its abundance. It has two distinguishing features, and it is determined by either one of them: one is that it smells like the Maniyy of the man, and the second is that the woman feels pleasure by its discharge and her lust abates once it is discharged.”
The discharge that necessitates Ghusl is the Maniyy in particular and not all secretions, so if there are secretions that are yellow in color but they are not Maniyy, then their discharge does not necessitate Ghusl.
For more benefit on the difference between Maniyy, Mathy and Wady, please refer to Fatwa 82518, and for more benefit on the fact that the man's Maniyy is white and thick and the woman's is yellow and thin, please refer to Fatwa 13174; and refer to Fatwa 82539 about women's vaginal secretions being pure but that they render ablution invalid.
Allaah Knows best.