As the world marks the International Day of the Girl Child, women's rights activists point to progress on a wide array of issues but say more needs to be done to protect girls from child marriage, sexual assault and other forms of exploitation. Here is a selection of pictures showing the daily lives of girls across the globe, all taken by female Associated Press photojournalists. Here: In this December 14, 2015, file photo, a young clown rides in the back of a car following a procession to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Hundreds belonging to various clown associations made their annual pilgrimage to the Basilica to pay their respects to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

Two young women huddle up in their coats as they brave the cold in Newcastle, England on February 1, 2019. Women in skimpy dresses and men in t-shirts enjoyed a drink and a dance as they celebrated January finally being over. (Photo by Will Walker/North News and Pictures)

Enjoying a tickle from her keeper, an orphaned orangutan at the SOCP Quarantine Centre in Sumatra, Indonesia on March 20, 2016. The island’s orangutan population has been devastated in recent years as the forest areas are destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations. (Photo by Jami Tarris/Barcroft Media)

In this Thursday, May 16, 2013 file photo, Finland's Krista Siegfrids, second right, kisses a dancer as she performs her song “Marry Me” during the second semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest at the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden. That was the first girl-on-girl kiss in the history of the annual competition. Previously, organizers had sought to prevent similar embraces citing the competition's status as a family event. (Photo by Alastair Grant/AP Photo)

A man wearing a water-filled helmet in which a goldfish swims performs an act titled “Aquaman” during the Night Festival 2016 in Singapore, 20 August 2016. The ninth edition of the festival will run from 19 to 27 August and features installations and performances by a range of international and local artists. (Photo by Wallace Woon/EPA)

Breitling Wingwalkers aircrafts perform during an aerobatic display at an air show in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China, September 25, 201. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Swab Cadet Langton reads the Running Light guidebook as members of the US Coast Guard academy class of 2026 report for the first day of Swab Summer, a seven-week training programme designed to transform civilian students into military members, in Connecticut on June 27, 2022. The Swabs, as the new cadets are called, cycle through haircuts, uniform issue, drill practice and various administrative in-processing over the course of the day. (Photo by Sean D. Elliot/AP Photo)

Student of Meiji University Yuki Hou licks a screen of Taste the TV (TTTV), a prototype lickable TV screen that can imitate the flavours of various foods, during its demonstration at the university in Tokyo, Japan, December 22, 2021. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)