diff --git a/runtests.py b/runtests.py
index b0345d1ddbc8a41b2f0564683758b8a7a4716234..efb4d4216654a53850d45eb5128690a665718f67 100644
--- a/runtests.py
+++ b/runtests.py
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ class CythonRunTestCase(CythonCompileTestCase):
             pass
 
     def run_doctests(self, module_name, result):
-        if sys.version_info[0] >= 3 or not hasattr(os, 'forkx'):
+        if sys.version_info[0] >= 3 or not hasattr(os, 'fork'):
             doctest.DocTestSuite(module_name).run(result)
             return