Israelis take cover from the incoming rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Wednesday, October 11, 2023. (Photo by Leo Correa/AP Photo)

A wave carrying plastic waste and other rubbish washes up on a beach in Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand on January 19, 2021. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

A child puts his swimming goggles on before jumping in a public pool of spring water in Japakeh, Indonesia's Aceh province on March 22, 2024, during the World Water Day. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

A farmer harvests apples at an apple orchard on October 10, 2020 in Yiyuan County, Shandong Province of China. (Photo by Zhao Dongshan/VCG via Getty Images)

American singer Sabrina Carpenter performs onstage at the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 12, 2024 in Indio, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Coachella)

“We've reached 40km.” – Participants run at the 40km mark of the 2025 Chosun Ilbo Chuncheon Marathon, held in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, South Korea on the afternoon of the October 26, 2025. (Photo by Park Seong-won)

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)

Members of the Paraguay-African cultural group Kamba Cua dance during celebrations in honor of Saint Balthazar, one of the Three Kings, on Epiphany in Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay, late Saturday, January 8, 2022, just days after the official holiday. The annual procession is a tradition that keeps Paraguay's Afro-descendants connected with their African roots through ancestral dance, drumming and customs. (Photo by Jorge Saenz/AP Photo)