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 dolphin swims alongside ships and fishing boats at the Bosphorus in Arnavutkoy district of Istanbul, Turkiye on May 21, 2023. (Photo by Isa Terli/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Newlyweds take wedding photos hanging from bridge, Yueyang, Hunan province, China on August 9, 2016. They held such a special wedding ceremony on China's Qixi Festival. (Photo by Top Photo Corporation/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A performer entertains the crowd during a rally in support of the leader of the Cameroonian opposition party Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) in Yaounde, on September 30, 2018, prior to the upcoming October 7, presidential elections. (Photo by Marco Longari/AFP Photo)

A squirrel digs into a pumpkin in Washington, U.S., November 28, 2022. (Photo by Amanda Andrade-Rhoades./Reuters)

Iraqi Kurdish women work at a hand-weaving Kurdish traditional carpet shop, in the district of Raniya, about 70 kilometres (43 miles) east of Arbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region, on February 11, 2025. (Photo by Safin Hamid/AFP Photo)

Residents recently returning to their area cleared by government troops react as they ride a tricycle a day after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city in southern Philippines Wednesday, October 18, 2017. Sporadic explosions continue Wednesday as Philippine soldiers fought to gain control of the last pocket of Marawi controlled by Islamic militants. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)

Yogis, Israeli and foreigners, participate in the Arava Yoga Annual festival at the ancient copper mines area of the Timna Valley, in the southern Arava region of Israel, north of Eilat on November 2, 2018. (Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP Photo)