diff --git a/pyo3-arrow/src/chunked.rs b/pyo3-arrow/src/chunked.rs
index f076599..9a6c2bf 100644
--- a/pyo3-arrow/src/chunked.rs
+++ b/pyo3-arrow/src/chunked.rs
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ impl PyChunkedArray {
         assert!(
             chunks
                 .iter()
-                .all(|chunk| chunk.data_type() == field.data_type()),
+                .all(|chunk| chunk.data_type().equals_datatype(field.data_type())),
             "All chunks must have same data type"
         );
         Self { chunks, field }
diff --git a/pyo3-arrow/src/lib.rs b/pyo3-arrow/src/lib.rs
index 2395072..57f4721 100644
--- a/pyo3-arrow/src/lib.rs
+++ b/pyo3-arrow/src/lib.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ mod record_batch;
 mod record_batch_reader;
 mod schema;
 mod table;
+mod utils;
 
 pub use array::PyArray;
 pub use array_reader::PyArrayReader;
diff --git a/pyo3-arrow/src/table.rs b/pyo3-arrow/src/table.rs
index 5a6009e..4795b71 100644
--- a/pyo3-arrow/src/table.rs
+++ b/pyo3-arrow/src/table.rs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ use crate::input::{
     AnyArray, AnyRecordBatch, FieldIndexInput, MetadataInput, NameOrField, SelectIndices,
 };
 use crate::schema::display_schema;
+use crate::utils::schema_equals;
 use crate::{PyChunkedArray, PyField, PyRecordBatch, PyRecordBatchReader, PySchema};
 
 /// A Python-facing Arrow table.
@@ -35,9 +36,10 @@ pub struct PyTable {
 
 impl PyTable {
     pub fn new(batches: Vec<RecordBatch>, schema: SchemaRef) -> Self {
-        // TODO: allow batches to have different schema metadata?
         assert!(
-            batches.iter().all(|rb| rb.schema_ref() == &schema),
+            batches
+                .iter()
+                .all(|rb| schema_equals(rb.schema_ref(), &schema)),
             "All batches must have same schema"
         );
         Self { schema, batches }
diff --git a/pyo3-arrow/src/utils.rs b/pyo3-arrow/src/utils.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a826e69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyo3-arrow/src/utils.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+use arrow_schema::Schema;
+
+/// Check whether two schemas are equal
+///
+/// This allows schemas to have different top-level metadata, as well as different nested field
+/// names and keys.
+pub(crate) fn schema_equals(left: &Schema, right: &Schema) -> bool {
+    left.fields
+        .iter()
+        .zip(right.fields.iter())
+        .all(|(left_field, right_field)| {
+            left_field.name() == right_field.name()
+                && left_field
+                    .data_type()
+                    .equals_datatype(right_field.data_type())
+        })
+}