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)

Vast collection of fine art photography about to open at Pier 24 in Manhattan. One of the world's most prestigious annual photography events, The Photography Show is the longest-running and foremost exhibition dedicated to the photographic medium, offering a wide range of museum-quality work, including contemporary, modern, and 19th-century photographs as well as photo-based art, video, and new media. Here: Les Trois Femmes Deux, 2018. (Photo by Mickalene Thomas/Courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York)

The “Dancing With Costica” series began when Australia-based photographer Jane Long decided to brush up on her retouching skills. After finding the Costica Acsinte Archive on Flickr, she became fascinated with the images and their subjects, wanting to bring them to life and give them a story. Here: the Costica photo on the left inspired Jane Long to create her version, titled “Innocence”. (Photo by Costica Acsinte Archive/Jane Long)

A woman poses next to two mailboxes along a street in Taipei on August 11, 2015 that were reportedly bent by strong winds brought by Typhoon Soudelor over the weekend. The two iron mailboxes have become an unlikely attraction, drawing thousands of snap-happy visitors and have even become a backdrop to a wedding photo shoot. The typhoon, which hit in the early hours of August 8 and was billed as the most powerful typhoon this year, uprooted trees, brought down electricity poles, knocking out power to a record 4.3 million households, while leaving eight dead and four missing. (Photo by Benjamin Yeh/AFP Photo)

A reveler wearing sheepfur costume is seen in front of a bonfire on which they burn a coffin symbolizing winter during the closing ceremony of the traditional carnival parade in Mohacs, 189 kms south of Budapest, Hungary, 07 February 2016. The carnival parade of people, the so-called busos, dressed in such costumes and frightening wooden masks, using various noisy wooden rattlers is traditionally held on the seventh weekend before Easter to drive away winter, and is a revival of a legend, which says that ethnic Croats ambushed the Osmanli Turkish troops, who escaped in panic seeing the terrifying figures during the Turkish occupation of Hungary. (Photo by Tamas Soki/EPA)

A racegoers walks into a rubbish bin following 2016 Melbourne Cup Day at Flemington Racecourse on November 1, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Sherry Pie attends “RuPaul's Drag Race Season 12” meet the queens at TRL Studios on February 26, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for VH1 “RuPaul's Drag Race”)