diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/gtk-doc.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/gtk-doc.bbclass
index 9d3911966bb..33f6617e1bd 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/gtk-doc.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/gtk-doc.bbclass
@@ -35,9 +35,11 @@ DEPENDS:append = " gtk-doc-native"
 
 export STAGING_DIR_HOST
 
-inherit python3native pkgconfig qemu
+inherit pkgconfig qemu
 DEPENDS:append = "${@' qemu-native' if d.getVar('GTKDOC_ENABLED') == 'True' else ''}"
 
+inherit_defer ${@bb.utils.contains('GTKDOC_ENABLED', 'True', 'python3native', '', d)}
+
 do_compile:prepend:class-target () {
     if [ ${GTKDOC_ENABLED} = True ]; then
         # Write out a qemu wrapper that will be given to gtkdoc-scangobj so that it