diff --git a/Modules/_dbmmodule.c b/Modules/_dbmmodule.c
index ddfd4cd..7e80381 100644
--- a/Modules/_dbmmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_dbmmodule.c
@@ -401,7 +401,8 @@
 		return;
 	d = PyModule_GetDict(m);
 	if (DbmError == NULL)
-		DbmError = PyErr_NewException("_dbm.error", NULL, NULL);
+		DbmError = PyErr_NewException("_dbm.error",
+					      PyExc_IOError, NULL);
 	s = PyUnicode_FromString(which_dbm);
 	if (s != NULL) {
 		PyDict_SetItemString(d, "library", s);
diff --git a/Modules/_gdbmmodule.c b/Modules/_gdbmmodule.c
index 6c75819..abc8837 100644
--- a/Modules/_gdbmmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_gdbmmodule.c
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@
     if (m == NULL)
 	return;
     d = PyModule_GetDict(m);
-    DbmError = PyErr_NewException("_gdbm.error", NULL, NULL);
+    DbmError = PyErr_NewException("_gdbm.error", PyExc_IOError, NULL);
     if (DbmError != NULL) {
         PyDict_SetItemString(d, "error", DbmError);
         s = PyUnicode_FromString(dbmmodule_open_flags);