The Mayon volcano continues to erupt as the sun sets behind Legazpi city, Thursday, January 25, 2018 in Albay province, roughly 340 kilometers, (200 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)

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)

Carine Louis-Jean, 22, poses for a photograph in her destroyed house after Hurricane Matthew hit Jeremie, Haiti, October 17, 2016. “The roof of my house is completely gone and some of walls were destroyed. I have lost everything I had, but I thank God that I have a friend who is letting me stay at her house. I could say I'm lucky, because none of my family died during the hurricane, but I do not think I'm lucky”, said Louis-Jean. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

CANADA: Stanley Ferdinand filets large trout he caught in Great Bear Lake in Deline, Northwest Territories, Canada September 8, 2016. (Photo by Pat Kane/Reuters)

An Afghan teacher, in brown, helps school children run from the site of clashes near the Pakistan consulate in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Wednesday, January 13, 2016. Several members of the Afghan security forces were killed Wednesday after unidentified gunmen attacked the Pakistani consulate in a volatile eastern province, an official said on Wednesday. (Photo by Mohammad Anwar Danishyar/AP Photos)

A woman peels potatoes for sale at a market located along a railway line in West Jakarta, Indonesia March 1, 2016. (Photo by Garry Lotulung/Reuters)

Children attend a war safety awareness class conducted by civil defence members, in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan town in Idlib province, Syria May 14, 2016. (Photo by Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)

A pistol is lies near the body of a drug suspect who was killed with two others in an alleged “buy-bust” operation before dawn on Friday, September 30, 2016, in Caloocan city, north of Manila, Philippines, in the continuing “War on Drugs” campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte said he would be “happy to slaughter” 3 million addicts. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)