Equality or Sameness?
What the World Could Look Like If We Designed It Around Women’s Rhythms
Lately, I’ve been reading about the government’s Respectful Relationships initiative and gender equality strategies — and while I wholeheartedly support equality, it’s had me thinking deeply about what that really means.
Because if we’re not careful, our pursuit of equality can quietly become a pursuit of sameness.
Yes, women should absolutely be paid the same as men.
Yes, our work, voices, and contributions should be equally valued.
But, we are not the same.
Our biology, our hormonal rhythm, our emotional cycles — they don’t follow the same 24-hour pattern that men’s do. The world we live in was designed around a masculine rhythm: the 9–5 workday, the expectation of consistent energy, productivity, and focus day after day.
That model works well for men, whose hormones reset roughly every 24 hours.
But for women, it’s completely different.
We move through a monthly rhythm that mirrors the seasons — times of expansion and creativity, times of reflection and rest. Our bodies ask for fluidity, not consistency.
So when we strive for “equality” by trying to keep up with a masculine rhythm, we’re not actually empowering women — we’re teaching them to disconnect from their own.
What if true equality meant celebrating our differences?
What if we valued the cyclical nature of women as much as the linear nature of men?
What if workplaces, relationships, and education systems were built to honour both?
Because neither rhythm is better.
Neither more efficient or worthy.
They’re just different.
This is why I teach cycle awareness.
It’s not just about periods — it’s about understanding your body, your rhythm, and your unique pattern of energy and desire.
When we honour that, we stop trying to be the same — and start embracing the wisdom of being ourselves.
Imagine if the world was designed with women’s bodies in mind.
If our schedules ebbed and flowed like the moon,
our energy honoured rather than expected,
our rest celebrated rather than shamed.
Right now, we live in a system built from the patriarchy — wake, perform, achieve, repeat.
For women, though, our hormones move in a roughly 28-day cycle. Our energy expands and contracts. We have inner seasons that guide how we create, connect, and rest.
And yet, the world asks us to stay in perpetual summer.
To be always “on,” always producing, always available.
In a cyclical world, success wouldn’t be measured by how much we do — but by how deeply we align with our own energy.
There would be space for stillness.
Space to rest without guilt.
Space to create when inspiration blooms instead of when the calendar demands it.
Meetings could be scheduled around collaboration and connection during our “ovulatory” phase, when we feel naturally expressive and magnetic.
The quieter, reflective work — planning, writing, inner processing — could be reserved for the “luteal” or “menstrual” phases, when we’re more inward and intuitive. Creation and new idea’s come more easily in the follicular phase, but sometimes we need to wait until the luteal phase to bring them to life.
Instead of burning out, we’d build momentum working with our internal rhythms.
Equality doesn’t mean sameness.
It means valuing both the linear and the cyclical, the solar and the lunar.
When we expect women to operate like men, we strip away the very wisdom that makes us powerful.
Women deserve equal pay, equal opportunity, and equal respect — but we also deserve structures that reflect who we are.
Imagine schools that teach girls about their inner seasons.
Workplaces that encourage rest days instead of sick days.
Families that flow together through creation and quiet, rather than pushing through constant doing.
The world would be softer.
More compassionate.
More sustainable.
When women honour their natural cycles, everyone benefits. We become more present partners, creative thinkers, intuitive leaders, and grounded mothers.
I am committed to teaching this wisdom to women and men alike so we can all understand the different rhythms in and around us.
This is what I’ll be exploring in my upcoming workshop, Your Inner Seasons — a space to reconnect to your body’s natural wisdom and remember the power of your cyclical energy.
If you’re a woman or female bodied person, or know someone who is, and you just read that and you’re nodding along, I am inviting you to join me for an all day women’s retreat.
Saturday 23 November | Cleveland Estate, Lancefield
Limited spots available — visit evolvinghearts.com.au/event-list for all the details.
I am ready to make this dream a reality — one where women get to live by their inner compass, and not the external one that’s been placed on them — one workshop at a time!
With love and pleasure,
Bryony xo
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