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)

In this April 18, 2019 photo, tattoo artist Lalo Calva inks a tattoo on client Adrian Alonso Rodriguez, a journalist, announcer and dubbing artist, at the Corona Tattoo parlor in Mexico City. Not only inks and techniques have changed in Mexico over the years, but tattoos themselves have evolved from stigmatized symbols of gangs, violence and poverty to an art form. (Photo by Marco Ugarte/AP Photo)

A passenger without pants waits for the subway train during “The No Pants Subway Ride” in Mexico City January 11, 2015. The event, the fifth organized in Mexico, is an annual flash mob and occurs in different cities around the world, according to its organisers. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

Model, skydiver and wing-suit jumper Roberta Mancino, 33, swims with a whale shark on February 2014 in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. A female skydiver swims with whale sharks, manta rays and sailfish – the fastest fish in the sea. Model, skydiver and wing-suit jumper Roberta Mancino, 33, jumped from a boat into the ocean surrounding Isla Mujeres near the northern Peninsula of Mexico. The incredible project involved two trips to the stormy winter seas – one in February 2013 and one a year later in February 2014. (Photo by Shawn Heinrichs/Barcroft Media)

Women perform a pole dancing routine during the national day celebration of “Urban Pole” dance along a street in Monterrey, Mexico, on June 9, 2013. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

Guns decorated with gold and jewellery are displayed in the Drugs Museum, used by the military to showcase to soldiers the lifestyles of Mexican drug lords, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in Mexico City, October 14, 2016. (Photo by Henry Romero/Reuters)

A dog trainer works with a previously abandoned dog at a police centre in Saltillo, Mexico March 4, 2016. Stray dogs are adopted by the police from a municipal anti-rabies centre and then trained to help the police patrol the streets, and search for drugs, explosives and weapons. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

Students pose for a pictures taken by their friends during spring break on the beach in the resort city of Cancun, Mexico, February 27, 2009. (Photo by Israel Leal/AP Photo)