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)

2016 Rio Olympics, Gymnastics training, Rio Olympic Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 4, 2016. Close up of the feet of Rebecca Downie (GBR) of United Kingdom as she trains on the beam. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

Competitors take part in the Christmas Really Wild Mud Run on a 4.6 miles course across undulating farm land at Celtic Camping, St David's, Pembrokeshire, Wales, December 12, 2015. (Photo by Rebecca Naden/Reuters)

Front end detail of the Hyundai Santa Cruz crossover concept truck as it is displayed during the first press preview day of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan January 12, 2015. (Photo by Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

Gloria Lincoln-Thompson carries her 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol in her waistband during a rally in support of the Michigan Open Carry gun law in Romulus, Michigan, in this April 27, 2014 file photo. (Photo by Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

Miss Universe candidate Rebecca Kathleen Rath from Belize walks on stage in her national costume during the Miss Universe preliminary show at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, south of Manila, Philippines 26 January 2017. (Photo by Rolex Dela Pena/EPA)

Women are covered in dust after making it out of a building that collapsed after an earthquake in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City, Tuesday, September 19, 2017. A powerful earthquake shook Mexico City on Tuesday, causing panic among the megalopolis' 20 million inhabitants on the 32nd anniversary of a devastating 1985 quake. The US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 7.1 while Mexico's Seismological Institute said it measured 6.8 on its scale. The institute said the quake's epicenter was seven kilometers west of Chiautla de Tapia, in the neighboring state of Puebla. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

In this February 14, 2019 photo, a newlywed couple kisses while posing for photos at one of several free sets placed for newlyweds to take cell phone photos of themselves following a mass wedding ceremony on Valentine's Day in Mexico City. Hundreds of couples of all ages, many with their children, gathered to legally tie the knot in a mass ceremony in the capital's Venustiano Carranza neighborhood. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)