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)

“Unexpected humour”. The Dog and the Faucet, in Kolkata, India on January 2017. (Photo by Pau Buscató/The Guardian)

Indigenous people participate in a march commemorating the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples in Mexico City on August 9, 2023. (Photo by Alfredo Estrella/AFP Photo)

Crews paddle fast towards the turning mark during the annual Great Salem Maritime Cardboard Boat Regatta in Salem, Massachusetts on August 9, 2025. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Jasmine Paolini hits a forehand during her first-round US Open match on Sunday, August 24, 2025 at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Ray Giubilo)

Hitler, Hirohito and Mussolini, in effigy, are about to take a mile-high plunge over Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, Georgia, June 21, 1942, as part of the scrap rubber drive. Private Elias Nour, who arranged the stunt as a farewell party on the eve of his entrance into the army, is on the running board. He guided as the “Axis” plunged to destruction. Spectators had to give a scrap of rubber as the price of admission to the spectacle. (Photo by AP Photo)

Clouds cover the sky over the Ernst-Taehlmann-Park housing estate after a thunderstorm in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 11, 2021. (Photo by Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)

Yuchen Chao of Chinese Taipei in action during the Beach Handball Women's Tournament match between Chinese Taipei and Paraguay at The Beach Handball Arena, Tecnopolis Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 12, 2018. (Photo by Lukas Schulze for OIS/IOC/Handout via Reuters)