diff --git a/Lib/UserString.py b/Lib/UserString.py
index e8e0fed..914f3ce 100755
--- a/Lib/UserString.py
+++ b/Lib/UserString.py
@@ -126,6 +126,10 @@
     def upper(self): return self.__class__(self.data.upper())
     def zfill(self, width): return self.__class__(self.data.zfill(width))
 
+    # the following methods are defined for unicode objects only:
+    def iswide(self): return self.data.iswide()
+    def width(self): return self.data.width()
+
 class MutableString(UserString):
     """mutable string objects