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)

In this Wednesday, January 3, 2018 photo, yoga instructor Danuta Wolk-Laniewski, demonstrates goat yoga at the Aussakita Acres farm in Manchester, Conn. The farm is partnering with the Hartford Yard Goats, the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies baseball team, to offer goat yoga at Dunkin Donuts Park, the team's $71 million stadium in Hartford. (Photo by Pat Eaton-Robb/AP Photo)

An employe of Russian Space Training Center hangs out to dry space suits of Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA's U.S. flight engineer Kathleen Rubins, and Japanese space agency's flight engineer Takuya Onishi, right, after their undergoing training near in Noginsk, 60 km (38 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 2, 2014. The training was intended to simulate the capsule landing on water. Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, Japanese space agency's flight engineer Takuya Onishi, and NASA's U.S. flight engineer Kathleen Rubins are being trained for a future mission to the International Space Station. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Members of the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces Rescue and Relief Unit take part in a biochemical simulation organized by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) as part of the “African Lion” military exercise, in the port of Agadir, on June 15, 2021. (Photo by Fadel Senna/AFP Photo)

Spot-billed pelican interact on the banks of an artificial lake in Colombo on September 28, 2021. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Animal rights activists perform, demanding the abolition of bullfights, during a demonstration in Medellin, Colombia February 11, 2018. The Colombian Constitutional Court overruled on February 7, 2018, a judgment that allowed to hold a referendum regarding bullfights. (Photo by Fredy Builes/Reuters)

Artist Joe Hill poses on his 3D artwork, from the “Joe and Max” project as part of an advertising campaign, during its presentation at a park in Moscow, Russia, July 4, 2015. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

Women take a selfie with a giant dragon lantern decorated near the frozen Houhai Lake in Beijing, Thursday, February 8, 2024. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)