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)

Participants gather during a traditional hunting contest, involving tamed golden eagles and hawks, in Almaty, Kazakhstan on December 1, 2018. (Photo by Pavel Mikheyev/Reuters)

Masked guests attend the “Grand Bal Christian Dior” during the Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2018 fashion collection presented in Paris, Monday, January 22, 2018. (Photo by Kamil Zihnioglu/AP Photo)

Traditional dancers from southern state Tamil Nadu prepare themselves as they wait to perform during a press preview of displays being featured for the upcoming Republic Day parade in New Delhi on January 22, 2019. The Republic Day is an annual showcase of India's military hardware and cultural diversity. India celebrates its 70th Republic Day on January 26. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

Katie Loynes of the Blues attempts to mark the ball during the AFLW Preliminary Final match between the Carlton Blues and the Fremantle Dockers at Ikon Park on March 23, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images)

A journalist (R) is attacked by residents who are trying to prevent migrants from disembarking on the Greek island of Lesbos, on March 1, 2020. The United Nation called on March 1 for calm and urged states to refrain from “excessive” force, as thousands of migrants have flooded to Turkey's border with Greece in a bid to enter the EU. A massive influx of migrants swelled along the border over the weekend after Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to open its frontier to Europe as tensions mount over its deepening conflict in Syria. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

In this picture taken with a drone a man and a woman enjoy the beautiful weather at the Langwieder See (Lake Langwieder) in Munich, Germany, Thursday, June 18, 2020. (Photo by Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP Photo)

A boatman rests on his boat in the flooded Ganges river under the Shastri bridge at Daraganj Ghat, in Allahabad, India on August 22, 2019. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)