Ukraine's Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk reacts during the women's triple jump final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on March 20, 2022. (Photo by Bernadett Szabo/Reuters)

In this picture taken late on June 13, 2017, physiotherapist Masayuki Ozaki takes a bath with his silicone s*x doll Mayu at a love hotel in Yachimata, Chiba prefecture. Around 2,000 of the life- like dolls – which cost around 6,000 USD and come with adjustable fingers, removable head and life- like genitals – are sold each year in Japan, according to industry insiders. (Photo by Behrouz Mehri/AFP 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)

In this Sunday, June 27, 2010 file photo two men compete in an ostrich race at Highgate ostrich farm in Oudtshoorn, South Africa. Clambering onto an ostrich for a ride used to be popular among tourists in a South African town of Oudtshoorn known of as the “ostrich capital of the world”. Not so much anymore. Two major ostrich farms in Oudtshoorn have stopped offering ostrich rides to tourists, responding to concerns about the birds’ welfare. A third farm is sticking with the feature, saying it is regulated and that ostriches do not experience discomfort. The Highgate farm, however, continues to offer ostrich rides. (Photo by Shuji Kajiyama/AP Photo)

A man wears a protective face mask on a street, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Bangkok, Thailand, August 21, 2020. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A Pug sleeps during the American Kennel Club's (AKC) Meet the Breeds event in New York, U.S., January 29, 2023. (Photo by Jeenah Moon/Reuters)

Waka Tsukiyama and Sayaka Unagi compete during the Women's Pro-Wrestling “Stardom” at Korakuen Hall on September 06, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)

A German rifleman beside the corpse of a French soldier in a trench at Fort Vaux, France, 1916. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)