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)

Members of the Paraguay-African cultural group Kamba Cua dance during celebrations in honor of Saint Balthazar, one of the Three Kings, on Epiphany in Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay, late Saturday, January 8, 2022, just days after the official holiday. The annual procession is a tradition that keeps Paraguay's Afro-descendants connected with their African roots through ancestral dance, drumming and customs. (Photo by Jorge Saenz/AP Photo)

Sophia Fernandes, a member of the Kalunga quilombo, the descendants of runaway slaves, dons traditional afro braids, during the culmination of the week-long pilgrimage and celebration for the patron saint “Nossa Senhora da Abadia” or Our Lady of Abadia, in the rural area of Cavalcante in Goias state, Brazil, Saturday, August 13, 2022. Devotees celebrate Our Lady of Abadia at this time of the year with weddings, baptisms and by crowning distinguished community members, as they maintain cultural practices originating from Africa that mix with Catholic traditions. (Photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo)

New Year's Eve fireworks display illuminates the sky over the Dom Tower on January 01, 2012 in Utrecht, Netherlands. The Dom tower is with 112.5 metres high the tallest church tower of the Netherlands. Built in Gothic-style, the tower, part of the Cathedral of Saint Martin, is the symbol of the city of Utrecht. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

World War II veteran Jack W. Schlegel, 91 years-old, from Mount Tremper, New York, of the 508th Parachute Infantry Division of the 82nd Airborne who parachuted near Sainte-Mere-Eglise on June 6,1944, poses with American and French flags as he visits the American War cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, on the Normandy coast June 2, 2014. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

Cemetery workers repaint tombs inside the municipal cemetery in Navotas city, north of Manila October 29, 2015. Filipinos are preparing to celebrate All Saints Day on November 1 by visiting the graves of their departed loved ones. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Reuters)

A Pakistani devotee dances to celebrate the three-day annual festival to pay tribute to the famous saint Al-Sheikh Ali Bin Usman Al-Hajveri known as Data Ganjbaksh at outside his shrine in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, November 20, 2016. Thousands of people traveled from all over Pakistan to attend the celebrations. (Photo by K.M. Chaudary/AP Photo)

A performer removes a traditional eagle costume after performing “El Ball de l'Àliga” (Dance of the Eagle) during Saint Eulàlia fesitivities in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, February 11, 2022. After two years of canceled or muted celebrations due to the pandemic, this Mediterranean city went all-out to celebrate the feast, or “fest” in the Catalan language, of its patron. (Photo by Joan Mateu Parra/AP Photo)