Step 1 :Define the set of equally likely outcomes for the children's genders as [FFFF, FFFM, FFMF, FMFF, MFFF, MFFM, MFMF, MMFF, FFMM, FMFM, FMMF, FMMM, MFMM, MMFM, MMMF, MMMM].
Step 2 :Count the total number of outcomes, which is 16.
Step 3 :Identify the outcomes where there is exactly one female child: MFFF, FMFF, FFMF, FFFM.
Step 4 :Count the number of these outcomes, which is 4.
Step 5 :Calculate the probability of selecting a family with exactly one female child by dividing the number of desired outcomes by the total number of outcomes, which is \(\frac{4}{16} = \frac{1}{4}\).
Step 6 :\(\boxed{\frac{1}{4}}\) is the final answer.