In this Thursday, August 17, 2017 photo, a troupe charges and fires their rifles during Tabourida, a traditional horse riding show also known as Fantasia, in Mansouria, near Casablanca, Morocco. Thousands gathered recently in Mansouria, a small town south of the capital Rabat, to attend one of the oldest festivals in Morocco. Nineteen horse troupes came from different parts of the kingdom to celebrate a three-day event that blends courage, skill and tradition. (Photo by Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP 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)

A girl holds a blossom in her mouth while posing for photos under cherry blossom trees at Wuhan University on March 11, 2021 in Wuhan, China. Tourists come to view cherry blossoms at the university during the spring. Wuhan University, first founded in 1893, is widely known as one of the most beautiful universities in China. (Photo by Getty Images/China Stringer Network)

A performer from the Academicos do Grande Rio samba school dances during carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, early Monday, February 16, 2015. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

Children fill plastic containers with water from a well on a street, close to a neighbourhood called “The Tank” in the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, March 17, 2016. Although their nation has one of the world's biggest hydroelectric dams and vast rivers like the fabled Orinoco, Venezuelans are still suffering water and power cuts most days. The problems with stuttering services have escalated in the last few weeks: yet another headache for the OPEC nation's 30 million people already reeling from recession, the world's highest inflation rate, and scarcities of basic goods. President Nicolas Maduro blames a drought, while the opposition blames government incompetence. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

A pink grasshopper is spotted at the Messingham Sand Quarry in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, UK in the second decade of July 2023. The dazzling creature is incredibly rare, with experts estimating that a person has a chance of about 1 per cent of seeing one in their lifetime. (Photo by Calvin Taylor Lee/Animal News Agency)

Aaron Ramsdale of Arsenal fails to save a shot from Pedro Goncalves of Sporting CP (not pictured) as he scores their side's first goal during the UEFA Europa League round of 16 leg two match between Arsenal FC and Sporting CP at Emirates Stadium on March 16, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

An artist is seen preparing during the Kramatorsk tent show in Kramatorsk, Ukraine on August 29, 2021. Traditional tent shows are still very popular in the twenty first century among Ukrainian people of all ages. (Photo by Andriy Andriyenko/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)