Women-centred care: working collaboratively to develop gender inclusive health policy.

We argue that policies for women-centred care ought to be developed to address the inadequacy of the current health system to recognize that women are affected differently by health policies and programs and that gender is a determinant of health; furthermore, such policies must be created with representatives from relevant health professional organizations so that the policies are translated and operationalized at the organizational and practice level. A collaborative research process, co-operative inquiry, was used to conduct the research. This process engages the participants in rigorous iterations of action and reflection. The result was a clear definition of women-centred care, a set of general guidelines for practice, and specific changes to existing organizational policies. The process and the product of the research built a bridge between existing macro government policies and the guidelines, standards, and ethical codes of the professional health associations.