diff --git a/src/widgets/kernel/qwidgetsvariant.cpp b/src/widgets/kernel/qwidgetsvariant.cpp
index ce977fdf8d..c8ba07fa81 100644
--- a/src/widgets/kernel/qwidgetsvariant.cpp
+++ b/src/widgets/kernel/qwidgetsvariant.cpp
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ static const QMetaTypeGuiHelper qVariantWidgetsHelper[] = {
     Q_IMPL_METATYPE_HELPER(QSizePolicy),
 };
 
-Q_WIDGETS_EXPORT const QVariant::Handler *qt_widgets_variant_handler;
+extern Q_GUI_EXPORT const QVariant::Handler *qt_widgets_variant_handler;
 
 int qRegisterWidgetsVariant()
 {