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 visitor poses for a photograph in front of a 3D painting depicting a Japanese Imperial army soldier at a 3D art gallery in Beijing January 16, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

British Alex Yee looks exhausted after the men's individual triathlon race at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, on Wednesday 31 July 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Tom Jenkins/The Guardian)

Greece's Apostolos Angelis (L) and Austria's Felix Leitner compete during the men's 20 km individual event of the IBU Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic on February 14, 2024. (Photo by Joe Klamar/AFP Photo)

Filipinos riding on makeshift carts cross over an overflowing dam during a downpour in Las Pinas city, south of Manila, Philippines, 05 September 2017. According to the latest forecast from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) state weather bureau, typhoon signals were raised over Northern Luzon brought by a tropical storm (local name: Tropical Storm Kiko) and warned fisherfolks and small seacrafts not to venture onto the sea due to big waves. (Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA/EFE)

Atsushi Abe and Yumi Adachi from Japan perform in the synchronised swimming mixed duet technical routine preliminary at the Aquatics World Championships in Kazan, Russia July 25, 2015. (Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters)

Fisherwomen laying barrels with salt in preparation for herring curing, 1937. (Photo by Topical Press Agency)

Emilia Pechinkova, a 24-years-old Bulgarian Pomak (Bulgarian speaking Muslims) bride poses for a photograph following the “gelina” or face painting ceremony carried out by female guests and relatives in preparation for her three-day wedding ceremony in the village of Draginovo, 100 kms southeast of Sofia on April 22, 2016. Bulgaria's Muslim population is one of the highest in the European Union. During the Communist regime religious rituals were not tolerated, and Muslims were forced to abandon wearing their traditional wedding outfits. Recently, more young Pomak women want to include traditional wedding customs that were forbidden during the regime, regardless of their secular lifestyles and the high cost of such a wedding. (Photo by Nikolay Doychinov/AFP Photo)