diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/type-test.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/type-test.cc
index 48982cad424..f62d14d049b 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/type-test.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/type-test.cc
@@ -399,6 +399,40 @@ TEST(TestStructType, Basics) {
   // TODO(wesm): out of bounds for field(...)
 }
 
+TEST(TestStructType, GetChildByName) {
+  auto f0 = field("f0", int32());
+  auto f1 = field("f1", uint8(), false);
+  auto f2 = field("f2", utf8());
+  auto f3 = field("f3", list(int16()));
+
+  StructType struct_type({f0, f1, f2, f3});
+  std::shared_ptr<Field> result;
+
+  result = struct_type.GetChildByName("f1");
+  ASSERT_EQ(f1, result);
+
+  result = struct_type.GetChildByName("f3");
+  ASSERT_EQ(f3, result);
+
+  result = struct_type.GetChildByName("not-found");
+  ASSERT_EQ(result, nullptr);
+}
+
+TEST(TestStructType, GetChildIndex) {
+  auto f0 = field("f0", int32());
+  auto f1 = field("f1", uint8(), false);
+  auto f2 = field("f2", utf8());
+  auto f3 = field("f3", list(int16()));
+
+  StructType struct_type({f0, f1, f2, f3});
+
+  ASSERT_EQ(0, struct_type.GetChildIndex(f0->name()));
+  ASSERT_EQ(1, struct_type.GetChildIndex(f1->name()));
+  ASSERT_EQ(2, struct_type.GetChildIndex(f2->name()));
+  ASSERT_EQ(3, struct_type.GetChildIndex(f3->name()));
+  ASSERT_EQ(-1, struct_type.GetChildIndex("not-found"));
+}
+
 TEST(TypesTest, TestDecimal128Small) {
   Decimal128Type t1(8, 4);
 
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/type.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/type.cc
index 792d1bfd035..2eb9967976d 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/type.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/type.cc
@@ -109,20 +109,6 @@ std::string FixedSizeBinaryType::ToString() const {
   return ss.str();
 }
 
-std::string StructType::ToString() const {
-  std::stringstream s;
-  s << "struct<";
-  for (int i = 0; i < this->num_children(); ++i) {
-    if (i > 0) {
-      s << ", ";
-    }
-    std::shared_ptr<Field> field = this->child(i);
-    s << field->name() << ": " << field->type()->ToString();
-  }
-  s << ">";
-  return s.str();
-}
-
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Date types
 
@@ -206,6 +192,43 @@ std::string UnionType::ToString() const {
   return s.str();
 }
 
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Struct type
+
+std::string StructType::ToString() const {
+  std::stringstream s;
+  s << "struct<";
+  for (int i = 0; i < this->num_children(); ++i) {
+    if (i > 0) {
+      s << ", ";
+    }
+    std::shared_ptr<Field> field = this->child(i);
+    s << field->name() << ": " << field->type()->ToString();
+  }
+  s << ">";
+  return s.str();
+}
+
+std::shared_ptr<Field> StructType::GetChildByName(const std::string& name) const {
+  int i = GetChildIndex(name);
+  return i == -1 ? nullptr : children_[i];
+}
+
+int StructType::GetChildIndex(const std::string& name) const {
+  if (children_.size() > 0 && name_to_index_.size() == 0) {
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < children_.size(); ++i) {
+      name_to_index_[children_[i]->name()] = static_cast<int>(i);
+    }
+  }
+
+  auto it = name_to_index_.find(name);
+  if (it == name_to_index_.end()) {
+    return -1;
+  } else {
+    return it->second;
+  }
+}
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 // DictionaryType
 
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/type.h b/cpp/src/arrow/type.h
index e50760b55da..9cd1d8f86db 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/type.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/type.h
@@ -475,6 +475,16 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT StructType : public NestedType {
   Status Accept(TypeVisitor* visitor) const override;
   std::string ToString() const override;
   std::string name() const override { return "struct"; }
+
+  /// Returns null if name not found
+  std::shared_ptr<Field> GetChildByName(const std::string& name) const;
+
+  /// Returns -1 if name not found
+  int GetChildIndex(const std::string& name) const;
+
+ private:
+  /// Lazily initialized mapping
+  mutable std::unordered_map<std::string, int> name_to_index_;
 };
 
 class ARROW_EXPORT DecimalType : public FixedSizeBinaryType {
@@ -777,6 +787,8 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT Schema {
 
  private:
   std::vector<std::shared_ptr<Field>> fields_;
+
+  /// Lazily initialized mapping
   mutable std::unordered_map<std::string, int> name_to_index_;
 
   std::shared_ptr<const KeyValueMetadata> metadata_;
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd b/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
index 70eb9cbb205..0df7f34f33d 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
+++ b/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
@@ -253,6 +253,9 @@ cdef extern from "arrow/api.h" namespace "arrow" nogil:
     cdef cppclass CStructType" arrow::StructType"(CDataType):
         CStructType(const vector[shared_ptr[CField]]& fields)
 
+        shared_ptr[CField] GetChildByName(const c_string& name)
+        int GetChildIndex(const c_string& name)
+
     cdef cppclass CUnionType" arrow::UnionType"(CDataType):
         CUnionType(const vector[shared_ptr[CField]]& fields,
                    const vector[uint8_t]& type_codes, UnionMode mode)
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/lib.pxd b/python/pyarrow/lib.pxd
index 998eeafc630..c6864d2ca27 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/lib.pxd
+++ b/python/pyarrow/lib.pxd
@@ -143,6 +143,11 @@ cdef class ListValue(ArrayValue):
     cdef int64_t length(self)
 
 
+cdef class StructValue(ArrayValue):
+    cdef:
+        CStructArray* ap
+
+
 cdef class UnionValue(ArrayValue):
     cdef:
         CUnionArray* ap
@@ -150,6 +155,7 @@ cdef class UnionValue(ArrayValue):
 
     cdef getitem(self, int64_t i)
 
+
 cdef class StringValue(ArrayValue):
     pass
 
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/scalar.pxi b/python/pyarrow/scalar.pxi
index e1527713787..04ecc9cf46e 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/scalar.pxi
+++ b/python/pyarrow/scalar.pxi
@@ -371,14 +371,29 @@ cdef class FixedSizeBinaryValue(ArrayValue):
 
 cdef class StructValue(ArrayValue):
 
+    cdef void _set_array(self, const shared_ptr[CArray]& sp_array):
+        self.sp_array = sp_array
+        self.ap = <CStructArray*> sp_array.get()
+
+    def __getitem__(self, key):
+        cdef:
+            CStructType* type
+            int index
+
+        type = <CStructType*> self.type.type
+        index = type.GetChildIndex(tobytes(key))
+
+        if index < 0:
+            raise KeyError(key)
+
+        return pyarrow_wrap_array(self.ap.field(index))[self.index]
+
     def as_py(self):
         cdef:
-            CStructArray* ap
             vector[shared_ptr[CField]] child_fields = self.type.type.children()
 
-        ap = <CStructArray*> self.sp_array.get()
-        wrapped_arrays = [pyarrow_wrap_array(ap.field(i))
-                          for i in range(ap.num_fields())]
+        wrapped_arrays = [pyarrow_wrap_array(self.ap.field(i))
+                          for i in range(self.ap.num_fields())]
         child_names = [child.get().name() for child in child_fields]
         # Return the struct as a dict
         return {
@@ -415,6 +430,7 @@ cdef dict _scalar_classes = {
     _Type_STRUCT: StructValue,
 }
 
+
 cdef object box_scalar(DataType type, const shared_ptr[CArray]& sp_array,
                        int64_t index):
     cdef ArrayValue val
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_scalars.py b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_scalars.py
index 41057a0a40b..9c86270c454 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_scalars.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_scalars.py
@@ -215,3 +215,21 @@ def test_array_to_set(self):
         set_from_array = set(arr)
         assert isinstance(set_from_array, set)
         assert set_from_array == {1, 2}
+
+    def test_struct_value_subscripting(self):
+        ty = pa.struct([pa.field('x', pa.int16()),
+                        pa.field('y', pa.float32())])
+        arr = pa.array([(1, 2.5), (3, 4.5), (5, 6.5)], type=ty)
+
+        assert arr[0]['x'] == 1
+        assert arr[0]['y'] == 2.5
+        assert arr[1]['x'] == 3
+        assert arr[1]['y'] == 4.5
+        assert arr[2]['x'] == 5
+        assert arr[2]['y'] == 6.5
+
+        with pytest.raises(IndexError):
+            arr[4]['non-existent']
+
+        with pytest.raises(KeyError):
+            arr[0]['non-existent']