diff --git a/src/backends/meta-barrier.c b/src/backends/meta-barrier.c
index e227a83f1..dfcf5c41e 100644
--- a/src/backends/meta-barrier.c
+++ b/src/backends/meta-barrier.c
@@ -23,11 +23,6 @@
 #include "backends/native/meta-barrier-native.h"
 #endif
 
-struct _MetaBarrier
-{
-  GObject parent;
-};
-
 typedef struct _MetaBarrierPrivate
 {
   MetaBackend *backend;
diff --git a/src/meta/barrier.h b/src/meta/barrier.h
index 374c42f0b..ac090fb67 100644
--- a/src/meta/barrier.h
+++ b/src/meta/barrier.h
@@ -28,8 +28,13 @@ typedef enum
 
 #define META_TYPE_BARRIER (meta_barrier_get_type ())
 META_EXPORT
-G_DECLARE_FINAL_TYPE (MetaBarrier, meta_barrier,
-                      META, BARRIER, GObject)
+G_DECLARE_DERIVABLE_TYPE (MetaBarrier, meta_barrier,
+                          META, BARRIER, GObject)
+
+struct _MetaBarrierClass
+{
+  GObjectClass parent_class;
+};
 
 typedef struct _MetaBarrierEvent MetaBarrierEvent;