Work Disrupted

CHAPTER 8Carpe Diem: As Individuals, Strengthen Adaptability and Choice to Face Great Opportunities and Disproportionate Responsibilities

It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.

—Charles Darwin,¹ geologist and biologist

We've all heard of the greenhouse effect and the placebo effect, but the Etsy effect? Not so much. The Etsy effect refers to the platform's remarkable track record for propelling female entrepreneurship. Etsy now connects about 1.9 million sellers of handmade creations with buyers around the world.² In contrast to the ride-sharing apps, which employ more men than women,³ and mostly in urban areas, Etsy is fueled by women, who make up 87% of the sellers, most in rural locations.⁴ Etsy sellers report earnings that satisfy their full-time salary aspirations. These micro-businesses, often consisting of only one person, have provided sellers with an opportunity to be creative and self-determined, and for a handful, to become millionaires.

Etsy is part of a dynamic digital platform economy that is increasingly offering opportunities for self-employment and independent work. Since its launch in Brooklyn, New York, in 2005, the platform has received two unexpected boosts.⁵ During the 2009 recession, at the time of the most severe economic and financial meltdown in the United ...