diff --git a/arraycontext/impl/jax/fake_numpy.py b/arraycontext/impl/jax/fake_numpy.py
index 8a72d9aa41b7cf29b8f7e4248e879818c6bcdbf8..394fbd529c62a5a22897b42f99f69927f9aaf4c0 100644
--- a/arraycontext/impl/jax/fake_numpy.py
+++ b/arraycontext/impl/jax/fake_numpy.py
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ class EagerJAXFakeNumpyNamespace(BaseFakeNumpyNamespace):
         actx = self._array_context
 
         # NOTE: not all backends support `bool` properly, so use `int8` instead
+        true = actx.from_numpy(numpy.int8(True))
         false = actx.from_numpy(numpy.int8(False))
 
         def rec_equal(x, y):
@@ -145,8 +146,8 @@ class EagerJAXFakeNumpyNamespace(BaseFakeNumpyNamespace):
             else:
                 return reduce(
                         jnp.logical_and,
-                        [rec_equal(ix, iy) for (_, ix), (_, iy) in iterable]
-                        )
+                        [rec_equal(ix, iy) for (_, ix), (_, iy) in iterable],
+                        true)
 
         return rec_equal(a, b)
 
diff --git a/arraycontext/impl/pyopencl/fake_numpy.py b/arraycontext/impl/pyopencl/fake_numpy.py
index bae5b34fae1bac2939e2396150686cfaf66e80b0..3c9be87dc3f76fadaba9e5270aa276fba735ddad 100644
--- a/arraycontext/impl/pyopencl/fake_numpy.py
+++ b/arraycontext/impl/pyopencl/fake_numpy.py
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ class PyOpenCLFakeNumpyNamespace(LoopyBasedFakeNumpyNamespace):
         queue = actx.queue
 
         # NOTE: pyopencl doesn't like `bool` much, so use `int8` instead
+        true = actx.from_numpy(np.int8(True))
         false = actx.from_numpy(np.int8(False))
 
         def rec_equal(x, y):
@@ -185,8 +186,8 @@ class PyOpenCLFakeNumpyNamespace(LoopyBasedFakeNumpyNamespace):
             else:
                 return reduce(
                         partial(cl_array.minimum, queue=queue),
-                        [rec_equal(ix, iy)for (_, ix), (_, iy) in iterable]
-                        )
+                        [rec_equal(ix, iy)for (_, ix), (_, iy) in iterable],
+                        true)
 
         result = rec_equal(a, b)
         if not self._array_context._force_device_scalars:
diff --git a/arraycontext/impl/pytato/fake_numpy.py b/arraycontext/impl/pytato/fake_numpy.py
index babdf4a03231bec238c155cbaed2f34f8d30ba37..0f219d139b087a64a79ca38ce55b9e08e7483fda 100644
--- a/arraycontext/impl/pytato/fake_numpy.py
+++ b/arraycontext/impl/pytato/fake_numpy.py
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ class PytatoFakeNumpyNamespace(LoopyBasedFakeNumpyNamespace):
         actx = self._array_context
 
         # NOTE: not all backends support `bool` properly, so use `int8` instead
+        true = actx.from_numpy(np.int8(True))
         false = actx.from_numpy(np.int8(False))
 
         def rec_equal(x, y):
@@ -164,8 +165,8 @@ class PytatoFakeNumpyNamespace(LoopyBasedFakeNumpyNamespace):
             else:
                 return reduce(
                         pt.logical_and,
-                        [rec_equal(ix, iy) for (_, ix), (_, iy) in iterable]
-                        )
+                        [rec_equal(ix, iy) for (_, ix), (_, iy) in iterable],
+                        true)
 
         return rec_equal(a, b)
 
diff --git a/test/test_arraycontext.py b/test/test_arraycontext.py
index 154af2f97d8abd151235bacfd74d741e3d190085..928f4462813e9097cd5ac70a76d808e980b70668 100644
--- a/test/test_arraycontext.py
+++ b/test/test_arraycontext.py
@@ -576,7 +576,7 @@ def test_any_all_same_as_numpy(actx_factory, sym_name):
                 lambda _np, *_args: getattr(_np, sym_name)(*_args), [1 - ary_all])
 
 
-def test_array_equal_same_as_numpy(actx_factory):
+def test_array_equal(actx_factory):
     actx = actx_factory()
 
     sym_name = "array_equal"
@@ -605,6 +605,11 @@ def test_array_equal_same_as_numpy(actx_factory):
     # Different types
     assert not actx.to_numpy(actx.np.array_equal(ary, ary_diff_type))
 
+    # Empty
+    ary_empty = np.empty((5, 0), dtype=object)
+    ary_empty_copy = ary_empty.copy()
+    assert actx.to_numpy(actx.np.array_equal(ary_empty, ary_empty_copy))
+
 
 # }}}