In development / 01
Understand
yourself.
Foundations of Women’s Relational Psychology
Explore how you think, feel and connect—and the experiences, expectations and patterns that shape your relationships.
There’s more to
understand
about women.
How we think. How we feel. How we connect. And what shapes the lives we lead.
Explore our approach
Our approach
Our psychology doesn’t exist in isolation.
It is shaped by our bodies, our experiences, our relationships and the cultures we live in. Understanding women means exploring how those influences meet—and recognising the differences between us.
Women’s Relational Psychology Co. brings together education, professional training and research to explore women’s psychology—with female friendship at the heart of our work.
We examine the expectations women inherit, the patterns we develop and the dynamics that unfold between us. We ask difficult questions about belonging, identity, power and accountability, giving women language for experiences they may have struggled to explain.
For women who want to understand themselves more deeply. For professionals who want to bring greater understanding to their work. And for everyone asking what we still need to learn about women.
A friendship can shape your sense of belonging, your identity and the decisions you make. Its ending can leave you questioning yourself long after the relationship is over.
Yet the language we reach for can be remarkably inadequate.
Drama. Jealousy. Bitchiness. “That’s just what women are like.”
Those labels can stop the conversation precisely where understanding should begin.
We want to ask better questions. About closeness and exclusion. Loyalty and resentment. The expectations we leave unspoken, the conflicts we avoid and the ways we can hurt one another—even when connection is what we want.
Women deserve understanding. We also owe it to one another. That means asking uncomfortable questions about the ways we exclude, undermine and hurt each other—and being willing to recognise ourselves in the answers.
Through education, research and professional training, we’re building a deeper understanding of female friendship—and practical ways to bring that understanding into our lives and work.
Understanding changes what we do next.
You might want to make sense of your own experiences. You might work with women and want to understand the dynamics you encounter. Or you might want to make female friendship the focus of your professional practice.
We’re developing three ways to learn.
Understand
In development / 02
Support
others.
Female Friendship Coach Training
Learn to help women navigate friendship with deeper understanding, practical coaching skills and a clear sense of your responsibilities.
In development / 03
Deepen your professional knowledge.
Women’s Relational Psychology for Professionals
Explore women’s psychology in greater depth and apply that understanding to your work as a coach, leader or professional.
Research / An invitation
What are we still getting wrong
about women?
Which experiences get explained away? Which questions are we tired of answering—and which has nobody thought to ask?
We want women to help set the research agenda.
Tell us what existing explanations miss. What you wish someone would investigate. What happens in your friendships, your relationships and your life that deserves a better answer than “that’s just how women are”.
We’re developing surveys and reports that bring those questions into focus, exploring women’s experiences alongside existing psychological research.
We’ll look for patterns, take differences seriously and be honest about what the findings can tell us. Your experience matters. So does getting the interpretation right.
Help shape what we ask. Challenge what we assume. Be part of what we understand next.
Help shape our researchFounder / Speaker / Commentator
Meet Cally Stewart.
Female friendship. Women’s psychology. A few inconvenient observations.
Cally Stewart is the founder of Women’s Relational Psychology Co., a speaker and commentator on female friendship and women’s lives.
Her work examines the dynamics we too often reduce to “drama”: belonging, exclusion, loyalty, conflict, power and the expectations women carry into their relationships.
She asks why we analyse the breakdown of a romantic relationship, but describe a friendship breakdown as women being difficult. Why “she’s just jealous” can end a conversation that ought to involve accountability. And what we miss when sisterhood becomes a slogan rather than something we practise.
Cally brings those questions into public conversations through media commentary, speaking and education—connecting psychological ideas with situations women recognise in their own lives.
For journalists
Available for expert comment and interviews on female friendship, friendship breakdowns, women’s social dynamics, internalised misogyny and the cultural expectations shaping women’s lives.
Media enquiriesFor event organisers
Available for keynote talks, panel discussions and live conversations on female friendship, belonging, accountability and women’s relational lives.
Speaking enquiries
Join the interest list
There’s more to understand.
Be part of it.
If you’ve ever wanted a better explanation than “that’s just how women are”, you’re in the right place.
Join our interest list for first access to course announcements, opportunities to help shape our research and new thinking on women’s psychology and female friendship.