diff --git a/zipline/utils/compat.py b/zipline/utils/compat.py
index 0282cb89..cf82ba62 100644
--- a/zipline/utils/compat.py
+++ b/zipline/utils/compat.py
@@ -16,4 +16,5 @@ unicode = type(u'')
 
 __all__ = [
     'mappingproxy',
+    'unicode',
 ]