diff --git a/AUTHORS.rst b/AUTHORS.rst
index 8379f65c..481ac6c7 100644
--- a/AUTHORS.rst
+++ b/AUTHORS.rst
@@ -181,3 +181,4 @@ Patches and Suggestions
 - Taylor Hoff <primdevs@protonmail.com> (`@PrimordialHelios <https://github.com/PrimordialHelios>`_)
 - Arthur Vigil (`@ahvigil <https://github.com/ahvigil>`_)
 - Nehal J Wani (`@nehaljwani <https://github.com/nehaljwani>`_)
+- Demetrios Bairaktaris (`@DemetriosBairaktaris <https://github.com/demetriosbairaktaris>`_)
diff --git a/requests/utils.py b/requests/utils.py
index f9565287..8c1b9bec 100644
--- a/requests/utils.py
+++ b/requests/utils.py
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ This module provides utility functions that are used within Requests
 that are also useful for external consumption.
 """
 
-import cgi
 import codecs
 import collections
 import contextlib
@@ -447,6 +446,31 @@ def get_encodings_from_content(content):
             xml_re.findall(content))
 
 
+def _parse_content_type_header(header):
+    """Returns content type and parameters from given header
+
+    :param header: string
+    :return: tuple containing content type and dictionary of
+         parameters
+    """
+
+    tokens = header.split(';')
+    content_type, params = tokens[0].strip(), tokens[1:]
+    params_dict = {}
+    items_to_strip = "\"' "
+
+    for param in params:
+        param = param.strip()
+        if param:
+            key, value = param, True
+            index_of_equals = param.find("=")
+            if index_of_equals != -1:
+                key = param[:index_of_equals].strip(items_to_strip)
+                value = param[index_of_equals + 1:].strip(items_to_strip)
+            params_dict[key] = value
+    return content_type, params_dict
+
+
 def get_encoding_from_headers(headers):
     """Returns encodings from given HTTP Header Dict.
 
@@ -459,7 +483,7 @@ def get_encoding_from_headers(headers):
     if not content_type:
         return None
 
-    content_type, params = cgi.parse_header(content_type)
+    content_type, params = _parse_content_type_header(content_type)
 
     if 'charset' in params:
         return params['charset'].strip("'\"")
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index 2dd16923..01cabe23 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from requests.cookies import RequestsCookieJar
 from requests.structures import CaseInsensitiveDict
 from requests.utils import (
     address_in_network, dotted_netmask, extract_zipped_paths,
-    get_auth_from_url, get_encoding_from_headers,
+    get_auth_from_url, _parse_content_type_header, get_encoding_from_headers,
     get_encodings_from_content, get_environ_proxies,
     guess_filename, guess_json_utf, is_ipv4_address,
     is_valid_cidr, iter_slices, parse_dict_header,
@@ -470,6 +470,45 @@ def test_parse_dict_header(value, expected):
     assert parse_dict_header(value) == expected
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    'value, expected', (
+        (
+            'application/xml',
+            ('application/xml', {})
+        ),
+        (
+            'application/json ; charset=utf-8',
+            ('application/json', {'charset': 'utf-8'})
+        ),
+        (
+            'text/plain',
+            ('text/plain', {})
+        ),
+        (
+            'multipart/form-data; boundary = something ; boundary2=\'something_else\' ; no_equals ',
+            ('multipart/form-data', {'boundary': 'something', 'boundary2': 'something_else', 'no_equals': True})
+        ),
+        (
+                'multipart/form-data; boundary = something ; boundary2="something_else" ; no_equals ',
+                ('multipart/form-data', {'boundary': 'something', 'boundary2': 'something_else', 'no_equals': True})
+        ),
+        (
+            'multipart/form-data; boundary = something ; \'boundary2=something_else\' ; no_equals ',
+            ('multipart/form-data', {'boundary': 'something', 'boundary2': 'something_else', 'no_equals': True})
+        ),
+        (
+            'multipart/form-data; boundary = something ; "boundary2=something_else" ; no_equals ',
+            ('multipart/form-data', {'boundary': 'something', 'boundary2': 'something_else', 'no_equals': True})
+        ),
+        (
+            'application/json ; ; ',
+            ('application/json', {})
+        )
+    ))
+def test__parse_content_type_header(value, expected):
+    assert _parse_content_type_header(value) == expected
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     'value, expected', (
         (