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 sеx worker performs in a mobile peep show to protest against the decision that sеx workers are not yet allowed to return to work, in The Hague, The Netherlands. 02 March 2021. The Dutch cabinet stipulated that all contact professions could return to work after a lockdown, but excluded sеx workers from resuming their work. (Photo by Sem van der Wal/EPA/EFE)

People dance in a park on a foggy day in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, China October 10, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

In this Wednesday, November 15, 2017 photo, a woman poses for a selfie with the carcass of a humpback whale on Ipanema beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Biologist Rafael Carvalho said the whale appears to have been dead for a few days. Authorities were urging beachgoers who had flocked to Ipanema on a national holiday to stay away from the animal. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

A man sets himself on fire during protest rallies in front of the presidential office in Kiev, Ukraine on February 26, 2020. The man, who called himself Oleksandr Burlakov, said subsequently that his motive was to draw the attention of the authorities to his plight, related to the ownership of the land parcel. (Photo by Ihor Behus/Reuters)

A woman wearing a protective mask walks outside a church in Mandaluyong, east of Manila, Philippines on Sunday, February 2, 2020. The Philippines on Sunday reported the first death of a new virus outside of China, where authorities delayed the opening of schools in the worst-hit province and tightened quarantine measures in another that allow only one family member to venture out to buy supplies. (Photo by Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

A woman wearing a face mask to help protect against the spread of the new coronavirus crosses a stream in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 15, 2020. (Photo by Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

People stand in the rain as they wait to enter the Martyrs' Mausoleum during a ceremony for Martyrs' Day in Yangon on July 19, 2020. Myanmar observed the 73rd anniversary of Martyrs' Day on July 19, marking the assassination of independence heroes including Aung San Suu Kyi's father, who helped end British colonial rule. (Photo by Sai Aung Main/AFP Photo)