diff --git a/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/generic/GenericData.java b/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/generic/GenericData.java
index 30cf3262415..e4e55dd6ce8 100644
--- a/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/generic/GenericData.java
+++ b/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/generic/GenericData.java
@@ -1106,6 +1106,69 @@ public int compare(Object o1, Object o2, Schema s) {
     return compare(o1, o2, s, false);
   }
 
+  protected int compareMaps(final Map<?, ?> m1, final Map<?, ?> m2) {
+    if (m1 == m2) {
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+    if (m2.size() != m2.size()) {
+      return 1;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Peek at keys, assuming they're all the same type within a Map
+     */
+    final Object key1 = m1.keySet().iterator().next();
+    final Object key2 = m2.keySet().iterator().next();
+    boolean utf8ToString = false;
+    boolean stringToUtf8 = false;
+
+    if (key1 instanceof Utf8 && key2 instanceof String) {
+      utf8ToString = true;
+    } else if (key1 instanceof String && key2 instanceof Utf8) {
+      stringToUtf8 = true;
+    }
+
+    try {
+      for (Map.Entry e : m1.entrySet()) {
+        final Object key = e.getKey();
+        Object lookupKey = key;
+        if (utf8ToString) {
+          lookupKey = key.toString();
+        } else if (stringToUtf8) {
+          lookupKey = new Utf8((String) lookupKey);
+        }
+        final Object value = e.getValue();
+        if (value == null) {
+          if (!(m2.get(lookupKey) == null && m2.containsKey(lookupKey))) {
+            return 1;
+          }
+        } else {
+          final Object value2 = m2.get(lookupKey);
+          if (value instanceof Utf8 && value2 instanceof String) {
+            if (!value.toString().equals(value2)) {
+              return 1;
+            }
+          } else if (value instanceof String && value2 instanceof Utf8) {
+            if (!new Utf8((String) value).equals(value2)) {
+              return 1;
+            }
+          } else {
+            if (!value.equals(value2)) {
+              return 1;
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    } catch (ClassCastException unused) {
+      return 1;
+    } catch (NullPointerException unused) {
+      return 1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Comparison implementation. When equals is true, only checks for equality, not
    * for order.
@@ -1142,7 +1205,7 @@ protected int compare(Object o1, Object o2, Schema s, boolean equals) {
       return e1.hasNext() ? 1 : (e2.hasNext() ? -1 : 0);
     case MAP:
       if (equals)
-        return o1.equals(o2) ? 0 : 1;
+        return compareMaps((Map) o1, (Map) o2);
       throw new AvroRuntimeException("Can't compare maps!");
     case UNION:
       int i1 = resolveUnion(s, o1);
diff --git a/lang/java/avro/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/generic/TestGenericData.java b/lang/java/avro/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/generic/TestGenericData.java
index 27006ad594c..a89d740620b 100644
--- a/lang/java/avro/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/generic/TestGenericData.java
+++ b/lang/java/avro/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/generic/TestGenericData.java
@@ -128,6 +128,48 @@ public void testEquals() {
     assertEquals(r1, r2);
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testMapKeyEquals() {
+    Schema mapSchema = new Schema.Parser().parse("{\"type\": \"map\", \"values\": \"string\"}");
+    Field myMapField = new Field("my_map", Schema.createMap(mapSchema), null, null);
+    Schema schema = Schema.createRecord("my_record", "doc", "mytest", false);
+    schema.setFields(Arrays.asList(myMapField));
+    GenericRecord r0 = new GenericData.Record(schema);
+    GenericRecord r1 = new GenericData.Record(schema);
+
+    HashMap<CharSequence, String> pair1 = new HashMap<>();
+    pair1.put("keyOne", "valueOne");
+    r0.put("my_map", pair1);
+
+    HashMap<CharSequence, String> pair2 = new HashMap<>();
+    pair2.put(new Utf8("keyOne"), "valueOne");
+    r1.put("my_map", pair2);
+
+    assertEquals(r0, r1);
+    assertEquals(r1, r0);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testMapValuesEquals() {
+    Schema mapSchema = new Schema.Parser().parse("{\"type\": \"map\", \"values\": \"string\"}");
+    Field myMapField = new Field("my_map", Schema.createMap(mapSchema), null, null);
+    Schema schema = Schema.createRecord("my_record", "doc", "mytest", false);
+    schema.setFields(Arrays.asList(myMapField));
+    GenericRecord r0 = new GenericData.Record(schema);
+    GenericRecord r1 = new GenericData.Record(schema);
+
+    HashMap<CharSequence, CharSequence> pair1 = new HashMap<>();
+    pair1.put("keyOne", "valueOne");
+    r0.put("my_map", pair1);
+
+    HashMap<CharSequence, CharSequence> pair2 = new HashMap<>();
+    pair2.put("keyOne", new Utf8("valueOne"));
+    r1.put("my_map", pair2);
+
+    assertEquals(r0, r1);
+    assertEquals(r1, r0);
+  }
+
   private Schema recordSchema() {
     List<Field> fields = new ArrayList<>();
     fields.add(new Field("anArray", Schema.createArray(Schema.create(Type.STRING)), null, null));