Firefighters work to put out flames during a wildfire in Sokcho, South Korea, April 5, 2019. South Korea grappled with the massive blaze that roared through forests and cities along the eastern coast, declaring a national emergency and mobilizing all available resources to bring the inferno under control. (Photo by Yonhap via 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)

This May 11, 2016 photo shows the backside of a bus decorated with a provocative mural, in Acapulco, Mexico. (Photo by Enric Marti/AP Photo)

Beesan al-Jubeh, (L), Palestinian under-10 national karate champion, trains with her father Sami (R) and other family members, all wearing face masks and gloves due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, outside their house in the city of Hebron in the Occupied West Bank on April 9, 2020. (Photo by Hazem Bader/AFP Photo)

Swimmers known as the Lido Ladies pose by the pool during sunrise at Charlton Lido in Hornfair Park, London on December 2, 2020, on its first day of reopening after the second national lockdown ended and England enters a strengthened tiered system of regional coronavirus restrictions. (Photo by Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images)

Palestinians drive classic cars during a gathering organized by the Bethlehem municipality near the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on October 17, 2025. (Photo by Mussa Qawasma/Reuters)

Palestinians react at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2023. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

A couple sits on a swing during stormy weather along a beach by the Mediterranean Sea in Gaza City on December 8, 2021. (Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP Photo)