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)

Hotel ushers pose for a photo at Tiananmen Square as delegates attend the second plenary session of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, China, March 9, 2018. The CPPCC is the top advisory body of the Chinese political system and runs alongside the annual plenary meetings of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), together known as “Lianghui” or “Two Meetings”. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

An image produced by the Hubble telescope of the perfectly “edge-on” galaxy, or NGC 4013, March 1, 2001. This new Hubble picture reveals, with great detail, huge clouds of dust and gas extending along, as well as far above, the galaxy's main disk. NGC 4013 is a spiral galaxy, similar to the Milky Way, lying some 55 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major. Viewed face-on, it would look like a nearly circular pinwheel, but NGC 4013 happens to be seen edge-on from our vantage point. Even at 55 million light-years, the galaxy is larger than Hubble's field of view, and the image shows only a little more than half of the object, albeit with unprecedented detail. (Photo Courtesy of NASA/Newsmakers)

The car of Dan Wheldon of England driver of the #77 Bowers & Wilkins Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara Honda (left) flies in the air during the Las Vegas Indy 300 part of the IZOD IndyCar World Championships presented by Honda on October 16, 2011 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

Flight attendants of Zhejiang Loong Airlines undergo rigorous posture training on March 14, 2022 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. A total of 300 flight attendants received an etiquette training, including 13 courses for Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, which will be held from Sept. 10 to 25, 2022 in Hangzhou. (Photo by Wang Gang/China News Service via Getty Images)

A green frog sits on a moth orchid at a local agricultural research center in Hwaseong, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, South Korea, 03 March 2022, two days ahead of “gyeongchip”. On the lunar calendar, gyeongchip is the day when frogs awake from hibernation. (Photo by Yonhap/EPA/EFE)

A view of the cemetery where the graves of the soldiers who lost their lives in the Russia-Ukraine war are located as daily life continues in shadow of war in Kursk, Russia on August 18, 2024. (Photo by Vladimir Aleksandrov/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Vehicles drive amid rainfall in Hyderabad, Pakistan, 27 June 2025. Heavy monsoon rains have impacted major cities across Pakistan, including Islamabad, Lahore, Hyderabad and Karachi, triggering urban flooding and power outages. Authorities remain on high alert. (Photo by Nadeem Khawar/EPA)