An Iran fan attends the Russia 2018 World Cup Group B football match between Morocco and Iran at the Saint Petersburg Stadium in Saint Petersburg on June 15, 2018. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

Model mum Valeria Garcia walks Marta Jakubowski's SS19 show wearing world first silent wearable breast pump: Elvie Pump at BFC Show Space on September 14, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for Elvie)

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)

Buddhist believers wearing faces masks to help protect against the spread of the new coronavirus wait to attend a service to pray for overcoming the COVID-19 outbreak and to celebrate Buddha's birthday at the Chogyesa temple in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 30, 2020. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

Passengers board children through the window of a bus as Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) resumed bus services after the government eased a nationwide lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, at Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) in Secunderabad, the twin city of Hyderabad on May 20, 2020. (Photo by Noah Seelam/AFP Photo)

Alexis kneels with his baby at a protest in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in Dakar, Senegal on June 9, 2020. (Photo by John Wessels/AFP Photo)

People have fun on an alley through Christmas lights in downtown Chisinau, Moldova, 23 December 2021. Traditionally, people from former countries of the Soviet Union, still celebrate Christmas on two occasions, on 25 December and 07 January. (Photo by Dumitru Doru/EPA/EFE)

Dancers from Cuba's National Ballet rehearse under the leadership of U.S. choreographer Jessica Lang as they prepare next month's International Ballet Festival in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, September 1, 2022. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)