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)

Principal of the Royal Ballet, Natalia Osipova, performs outside the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in Edinburgh, England on November 21, 2018, where she is starring in the new contemporary ballet “The Mother”. (PHoto by Jane Barlow/PA Wire via ZUMA Press)

Vishnu Limbachiya, a hair artist, styles the hair of a man while wearing a blindfold at a park in Ahmedabad, India, May 31, 2017. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

Japanese chorus girls appear to be drilling in military tactics atop their theater building as they perform salutes, June 30, 1937. The officer is from the Japanese regular army and says the girls display more rhythm in their drills than do the regular troops. (Photo by AP Photo)

Military officers look at an AR-10 sniper rifle at LAAD, the biggest military industry expo in Latin America in Sao Paulo, Brazil April 10, 2018. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Some people prepare to catch offerings thrown by Tengger tribe people into the crater of Bromo volcano to in Probolinggo, East Java province, on June 30, 2018, as part of Yadnya Kasada festival which falls on the 14th day of the Kasada month based on the traditional Hindu lunar calendar. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)

A bull savar (jockey) guides his bulls as he competes in a bull race on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan July 1, 2018. (Photo by Faisal Mahmood/Reuters)

A grey heron is seen at the Sempione park, after Lombardy was downgraded from a red to an orange zone, loosening the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions including allowing non-essential shops to re-open, in Milan, Italy, April 13, 2021. (Photo by Flavio Lo Scalzo/Reuters)