A Russian police officer detains a teenager during rally protesting retirement age hikes in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, September 9, 2018. A government plan to increase the age for collecting state pensions brought protests across Russia's 11 time zones on Sunday even though the opposition leader who called them was in jail. Nearly 300 people were reported arrested. (Photo by Roman Pimenov/Interpress photo via AP Photo)

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)

A man carries a child in a wheelbarrow near a burning tire barricade in the framework of the protests of the last three days due to the increase in fuel prices, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 09 July 2018. Haiti was today practically paralyzed by a transport strike after three days of violent riots due to an increase in fuel prices, which the Government left without effect shortly after the announcement. The Prime Minister, Jack Guy Lafontant, today heads a meeting with representatives of Parliament to assess the situation created after the violent protests, which have left at least three dead and several injured. (Photo by Jean Marc Hervé Abelard/EPA/EFE)

A woman poses with a grenade launcher at a weapons exhibition during festivities marking Marines Day in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, November 24, 2018. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Boxers Deontay Wilder, left, and Tyson Fury exchange words as they face each other at a news conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, November 28, 2018. The pair are slated to fight Saturday night for Wilder's WBC heavyweight title. (Photo by Andrew Couldridge/Action Images via Reuters)

Novice DSLR (Digital single-lens reflex camera), 2nd Place. “Smile of a Friend”, American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) in Jucaro, Cuba. (Photo by Antonio Pastrana/The Ocean Art 2018 Underwater Photography Competition)

An Indian nomadic shepherd from the western Rajasthan state guides his flock of sheep through an access road in Greater Noida, outskirts of New Delhi, India, Tuesday, December 5, 2017. Looking for suitable pasture lands for grazing, shepherds migrate their flocks over extensive areas in the same state or to neighboring states in India. (Photo by R.S. Iyer/AP Photo)

People walk past stranded cargo ship “Ocean Crown” during a windy weather in Klaipeda, Lithuania on December 26, 2017. (Photo by Ints Kalnins/Reuters)