A runner competes in the Great Wall Marathon at the Huangyaguan Great Wall outside Beijing, China, May 18, 2019. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Sloth “Paula” hangs from a branch in her enclosure at the zoo in Halle an der Saale, eastern Germany, on June 14, 2019. The two-toed sloth celebrated her 50th birthday and is, according to the zoo, the oldest sloth of the world. (Photo by Hendrik Schmidt/dpa/AFP 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)

Sugar gliders, Candy and Popcorn, enjoy their favourite food, Nectar, at Wild Life Sydney Zoo on February 14, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. The treat made up of honey, high protein baby cereal and egg yolks is the human equivalent to chocolate to the Sugar Gliders. St. Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine began as a celebration of the early Christian Saint Valentinus. From the 18th Century onwards it has steadily transformed into a celebration of romantic love and sentiment in many countries around the world. (Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

A bishop walks past a new street-art collage by Italian artist Maupal showing Pope Francis playing tic-tac-toe and drawing peace signs as a Swiss guard keep watches the street near the Vatican on October 19, 2016 in Rome. (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP Photo)

Young women dance a group dance at the Palace Square in St.Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, September 24, 2020. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A taxi driver seen sleeping on his taxi in the middle of a decorated street during the Durga Puja Festival in Kolkata, India on October 22, 2020. (Photo by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A monolith placed in the Utah wilderness in November 2020. New clues have surfaced in the disappearance of the gleaming monolith that seemed to melt away as mysteriously as it appeared in the red-rock desert. A Colorado photographer told a TV station in Salt Lake City that he saw four men push over the hollow, stainless steel structure last Friday night. (Photo by Terrance Siemon/AP Photo)