diff --git a/gamgee/shared_field.h b/gamgee/shared_field.h
index 2e42e2a3c..57cc1afdb 100644
--- a/gamgee/shared_field.h
+++ b/gamgee/shared_field.h
@@ -79,6 +79,33 @@ class SharedField {
   SharedField(SharedField&& other) = default;                ///< @brief safely moves the data from one SharedField to a new one without making any copies
   SharedField& operator=(SharedField&& other) = default;     ///< @brief safely moves the data from one SharedField to the other without making any copies
 
+  /**
+   * @brief compares two SharedField objects in the following order: memory address, size and values. 
+   * @param other something to compare to
+   * @return true if the objects are the same (memory address-wise), or contain exactly the same values. Value comparison is dictated by TYPE's operator== implementation
+   */
+  bool operator==(const SharedField& other) const {
+    if (this == &other) 
+      return true;
+    if (size() != other.size()) 
+      return false;
+    for (auto i=0u; i != size(); ++i) {
+      if (operator[](i) != other[i])
+        return false;
+    }
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @brief compares two SharedField objects in the following order: memory address, size and values. 
+   * @param other something to compare to
+   * @return true if the objects are not the same (memory address-wise), or contain different number of values, or the values are not exactly the same. Value comparison is dictated by TYPE's operator== implementation
+   */
+  bool operator!=(const SharedField& other) const {
+    return !(*this == other);
+  }
+
+
   /**
    * @brief random access to a given value for reading or writing
    * @param index must be between 0 and the number of values for this record 
diff --git a/test/variant_reader_test.cpp b/test/variant_reader_test.cpp
index 57c63981d..599447b76 100644
--- a/test/variant_reader_test.cpp
+++ b/test/variant_reader_test.cpp
@@ -303,13 +303,15 @@ void check_shared_field_api(const Variant& record, const uint32_t truth_index) {
     BOOST_CHECK(desc_bool_idx);
     BOOST_CHECK_THROW(desc_float_idx[0], invalid_argument);
     BOOST_CHECK_THROW(desc_integer_idx[0], invalid_argument);
-    // BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(desc, record.shared_field_as_string("DESC"));  // needs operator == on shared fields
-    // BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(desc_idx, record.shared_field_as_string(desc_index));  // needs operator == on shared fields
+    BOOST_CHECK(desc == record.shared_field_as_string("DESC"));  
+    BOOST_CHECK(desc_idx == record.shared_field_as_string(desc_index));  
   }
-  // BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(an, record.shared_field_as_integer("AN")); // needs operator == on shared fields
-  // BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(an, record.shared_field_as_integer(header.field_index("AN"))); // needs operator == on shared fields
-  // BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(af, record.shared_field_as_float("AF")); // needs operator == on shared fields
-  // BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(af, record.shared_field_as_float(header.field_index("AF"))); // needs operator == on shared fields
+  BOOST_CHECK(an == record.shared_field_as_integer("AN")); 
+  BOOST_CHECK(an == record.shared_field_as_integer(header.field_index("AN"))); 
+  BOOST_CHECK(af == record.shared_field_as_float("AF")); 
+  BOOST_CHECK(af == record.shared_field_as_float(header.field_index("AF"))); 
+  BOOST_CHECK(an != record.shared_field_as_integer("AF")); 
+  BOOST_CHECK(af != record.shared_field_as_float(header.field_index("AN"))); 
 }
 
 void check_genotype_api(const Variant& record, const uint32_t truth_index) {