Kimono-clad Japanese young women stand in a train after attending a Coming of Age Day ceremony at Yokohama Arena, in Yokohama, Japan, 13 January 2025. Thousands of participants attended the ceremony of the Coming of Age Day in Yokohama, the day celebrating all those who reached 20 years of age, which is considered adulthood in Japan. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)

Dog Xiaoniu dressed in clothes walks across a street with its owner (not pictured) in Shanghai, December 19, 2014. According to local media, Xiaoniu accompanies its owner to the food market everyday and is able to walk with its hind legs for up to about an hour. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A stork starts from its nest in the cliffs high above the Atlantic Ocean in Cabo Sardao, Portugal, Friday, March 29, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/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)

Texas state troopers in riot gear try to break up a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Austin, Texas, April 24, 2024. (Photo by Jay Janner/USA Today Network via Reuters)

Self-titled Pricasso – real name Tim Patch, 71, – is using his very own pen*s to create his masterpiece – and claims to have made close to £500k from his saucy paintings. Here: Pricasso gets to work with his tools - and paints The Sun's newspaper correspondent Amy Nickell with his bits in London, England on November 5, 2019. (Photo by Stewart Williams/The Sun)

An animal sprints across a road as the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, burns in Plumas National Forest, Calif., on Thursday, July 8, 2021. (Photo by Noah Berger/AP Photo)

The Radio City Rockettes perform during a rehearsal for their Christmas show in New York City, on October 13, 2021. The 2021 production will run from November 5, 2021, to January 2, 2022, at Radio City Music Hall. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)