Part II Protecting and promoting the rights of women and girls: NHRIs in action Ensuring gender expertise on the inquiry team: NHRIs should appoint Inquiry Commissioners and staff with the necessary skills and experience to undertake the research, collect the evidence, lead the public hearings, engage the media, analyse the evidence and draft the inquiry report and its recommendations. All members of the inquiry team should have a strong understanding of the issue being considered and the international legal framework around the human rights of women and girls. The inquiry team should also include substantial gender expertise, preferably among all or most team members. Attention to gender and the human rights of women should be a general responsibility, not something that is designating to a single person as a “gender focal point” or “women’s rights expert”. That approach can, in fact, risk marginalizing gender issues and compromising the outcome of the inquiry. 108 NEW ZEALAND: INQUIRY INTO THE AGED CARE WORKFORCE In 2011 and 2012 the New Zealand Human Rights Commission used its inquiry powers to investigate equal employment opportunities in the aged care sector. The inquiry was prompted by two concerns. One related to the low pay and undervaluing of work in the aged care sector, where over 90 per cent of New Zealand’s aged care workforce is female. The other related to the link between the value that society places on the aged care workforce and the respect and dignity of older people. A marked feature of the inquiry was the high degree of participation by stakeholders. Almost 900 people participated in the inquiry, including carers, older people receiving care and their families, residential and home support care providers, funders, politicians, unions and civil society. A consensus emerged during the course of the inquiry that caring work was extremely demanding and skilled work that was very poorly paid. A summit was held to bring together stakeholder representatives to consider how the recommendations could be implemented. The consensus about the inadequacy of pay rates for workers in the aged care sector was transformed into a shared commitment to address the issue. A draft of the inquiry report was sent to all those who participated, with feedback incorporated in the final version.108 The recommendations were developed by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner and the inquiry team after the feedback process and then endorsed by the New Zealand Human Rights Commission. The report also included the account of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner working “undercover” in a rest home. This proved to be a compelling story and the report received nation-wide media attention over an extended period. 108 The inquiry report – Caring Counts: Report of the Inquiry into the Aged Care Workforce – is available at www.neon.org.nz/ agedcareinquiry/. Chapter 6: Conducting inquiries into systemic violations of women’s and girls’ human rights | 73