diff --git a/gio/tests/meson.build b/gio/tests/meson.build
index b4a64926e..27de852be 100644
--- a/gio/tests/meson.build
+++ b/gio/tests/meson.build
@@ -767,7 +767,7 @@ if not meson.is_cross_build()
 
     resource_plugin += shared_module('resourceplugin',
       sources: ['resourceplugin.c', plugin_resources_c],
-      link_args : export_dynamic_ldflags,
+      c_args : export_dynamic_cflags,
       dependencies : common_gio_tests_deps,
       install_dir : installed_tests_execdir,
       install_tag : 'tests',
diff --git a/gmodule/meson.build b/gmodule/meson.build
index 4b0778e70..237992fcc 100644
--- a/gmodule/meson.build
+++ b/gmodule/meson.build
@@ -115,22 +115,24 @@ pkg.generate(libgmodule,
   description : 'Dynamic module loader for GLib',
 )
 
-pkg.generate(libraries : [libgmodule, export_dynamic_ldflags],
+pkg.generate(libraries : [libgmodule],
   requires : ['glib-2.0'],
   version : glib_version,
   variables : [supported_var],
   install_dir : glib_pkgconfigreldir,
   filebase : 'gmodule-export-2.0',
+  extra_cflags : export_dynamic_cflags,
   name : 'GModule',
   description : 'Dynamic module loader for GLib',
 )
 
-pkg.generate(libraries : [libgmodule, export_dynamic_ldflags],
+pkg.generate(libraries : [libgmodule],
   requires : ['glib-2.0'],
   version : glib_version,
   variables : [supported_var],
   install_dir : glib_pkgconfigreldir,
   filebase : 'gmodule-2.0',
+  extra_cflags : export_dynamic_cflags,
   name : 'GModule',
   description : 'Dynamic module loader for GLib',
 )
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 3576c5e6f..22557b27c 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2304,15 +2304,15 @@ if host_system == 'windows'
   # Autotools explicitly removed --Wl,--export-all-symbols from windows builds,
   # with no explanation. Do the same here for now but this could be revisited if
   # if causes issues.
-  export_dynamic_ldflags = []
+  export_dynamic_cflags = []
 elif host_system == 'cygwin'
-  export_dynamic_ldflags = ['-Wl,--export-all-symbols']
+  export_dynamic_cflags = ['-Wl,--export-all-symbols']
 elif host_system in ['darwin', 'ios']
-  export_dynamic_ldflags = []
+  export_dynamic_cflags = []
 elif host_system == 'sunos'
-  export_dynamic_ldflags = []
+  export_dynamic_cflags = []
 else
-  export_dynamic_ldflags = ['-Wl,--export-dynamic']
+  export_dynamic_cflags = ['-Wl,--export-dynamic']
 endif
 
 win32_cflags = []