Girls rest on stairs at the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference (ChinaJoy) in Shanghai, China July 27, 2017. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

A girl reacts during a rehearsal for the Independence Day military parade in central Kiev, Ukraine, August 19, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

Girls sits on a bench during summer at the Central Park in New York, United States, 2011. (Photo by An Rong Xu)

An Afghan girl carries washed clothes on her head in Bamiyan, Afghanistan on March 2, 2023. (Photo by Ali Khara/Reuters)

A girl plays with pigeons in front of Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on February 24, 2023. (Photo by Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP Photo)

The festival marks the end of the monsoon season and beginning of autumn. More than hundred girls under the age of nine gathered for the tradition of worshiping young pre-pubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female energy. The ritual holds a strong religious significance in Newar community. It is a community affair held primarily to save small girls from diseases and bad luck in the years to come. Photo: A young Nepalese girl dressed as a Kumari or living Goddess, smiles for camera as she waits for Kumari puja at Hanuman Dhoka, Basantapur Durbar Square in Katmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, September 17, 2013. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

Members of a teenage girl gang convincing an unwilling recruit to join the gang, circa 1955. (Photo by Vecchio/Three Lions)