diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/wxGTK-2.6/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/wxGTK-2.6/default.nix
index 7b8f639aec4..7e6618226cc 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/wxGTK-2.6/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/wxGTK-2.6/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, gtk, libXinerama, compat22 ? true}:
+{stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, gtk, libXinerama, compat22 ? true, unicode ? false}:
 
 assert pkgconfig != null && gtk != null;
 assert gtk.libtiff != null;
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     "--enable-gtk2"
     (if compat22 then "--enable-compat22" else "--disable-compat22")
     "--disable-precomp-headers"
+   (if unicode then "--enable-unicode" else "")
   ];
 
   inherit gtk compat22;