A girl collects water lily flowers at a pond in Kampong Speu province Cambodia, March 24, 2017. Picture taken March 24, 2017. (Photo by Samrang Pring/Reuters)

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 member of North Korean military holds flowers to be laid at the bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at Mansu Hill Grand Monument in Pyongyang, North Korea, Monday, December 17, 2018. North Koreans are marking the seventh anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Il with visits to the statues and vows of loyalty to his son, Kim Jong Un. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)

Lazar and his sister Andjelka sit by a candle in their home in the eastern Serbian town of Majdanpek, December 4, 2014. Electricity workers in Serbia struggled through snow, ice and treacherous terrain on Thursday to restore electricity to an eastern town left shivering without power, heating or running water for a fourth day. (Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters)

Members of Uganda Soft Ground Wrestling perform for attendees during the third day of Nyege Nyege Festival in Jinja, on November 16, 2024. The four-day popular Nyege Nyege Festival in Jinja, Uganda, gathers over 10,000 revelers and artists from across Africa for a celebration of music and culture, though it has faced criticism from some religious leaders who view it as morally controversial. (Photo by Badru Katumba/AFP Photo)

American actress Kristen Stewart attends the Chanel Metiers d'Art runway show, in Manchester, Britain on December 7, 2023. (Photo by Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)

The company selling wedding dresses with designs made of local and wild grass, exhibited its new collection with local and foreign models consisting of Mesopotamian motifs by organizing a fashion show at Dara Ancient City in Mardin, Turkiye on February 26, 2025. (Photo by Halil Ibrahim Sincar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A male stag beetle walks on a branch in an oak forest near the Spree River in Kersdorf, Brandenburg, Germany, on June 8, 2025. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images)