diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/dbus/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/dbus/default.nix
index a6e2e28c6f5..8c9eb476fe0 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/dbus/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/dbus/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, fetchPypi, buildPythonPackage, python, pkg-config, dbus, dbus-glib, isPyPy
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchPypi, buildPythonPackage, python, pkg-config, dbus, dbus-glib, isPyPy
 , ncurses, pygobject3, isPy3k }:
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
 
   disabled = isPyPy;
 
+  preConfigure = if (lib.versionAtLeast stdenv.hostPlatform.darwinMinVersion "11" && stdenv.isDarwin) then ''
+    MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.16
+  '' else null;
+
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkg-config ];
   buildInputs = [ dbus dbus-glib ]
     # My guess why it's sometimes trying to -lncurses.