Behishta,11, listens during 4th grade class at the Zarghoona high school on July 25 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Zarghoona girls high school is the largest in Kabul with 8,500 female students attending classes. The school opened after a nearly two-month break due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

As part of FLAIR Melbourne – a Flinders Lane art festival – Melbourne’s Lisa Minogue presents stylised photographic portraits of Australian women of colour, their faces painted vibrantly to accentuate their individuality and encourage the viewer to study each face more closely. Minogue asked each woman the same question: “What do the words “coloured girl” mean to you?”. (Photo by Lisa Minogue/The Guardian)

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 Syrian refugee girl covers herself with a blanket as she stands outside tents at a makeshift settlement in Bar Elias in the Bekaa valley January 5, 2015. Lebanon enforced new immigration controls at the Syrian border on Monday in a move to gain control of the steady stream of refugees from its much larger neighbour. (Photo by Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)

A girl with Russian national flags painted on her cheeks takes part in celebrations marking the first anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea, in central Simferopol March 16, 2015. Russia marks one year anniversary of annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula this week. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

An Egyptian Coptic Christian girl carries palm decoration during Palm Sunday inside a church in Old Cairo, Egypt, April 5, 2015. For Christians worldwide, Palm Sunday marks Jesus Christ's entrance into Jerusalem, when his followers laid palm branches in his path, prior to his crucifixion. Western Christian churches and most Orthodox Christian churches follow different calendars and observe Easter on different dates. (Photo by Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

Granada’s International Poetry Festival is an extraordinary celebration of poetry that takes place across the entire city. For a week, every February, Granada is transformed into a virtual Capital of the World’s Poetry. Photo: A girl takes part in the “Burial of arrogance and haughtiness” carnival during the IX Poetry Festival in Granada, 45 km from Managua, Nicaragua on February 20, 2013. In this occasion the festival is dedicated to Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)