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)

A boy looks on as fire fighters try to extinguish the fire at oil wells, were set on fire by Daesh terrorists as they fled after Al Qayyarah town's cleansing from Daesh militants as the operation to retake Iraq's Mosul from Daesh continues, in Al Qayyarah Town of Mosul, Nineveh, Iraq on November 02, 2016. (Photo by Yunus Keles/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

“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)

Costumed characters participate in the 30th annual Dragon Con Parade in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 03 September 2016. Thousands of attendees crowd downtown Atlanta hotels and streets during the Labor Day weekend for the Dragon Con science fiction and fantasy convention, many dressed as their favorite characters. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/EPA)

Visitors view Patricia Piccinini's “The Embrace” artwork during the “You Know Who” exhibition at the Abdulmecit Efendi mansion in Istanbul, Turkey, 27 September 2022. The exhibition, which by the organizers is described as questioning “the representation of the unknown in contemporary art, based on the symbolic world of the supernatural and unknown in the Byzantine period”, is shown from 20 September until 11 December 2022. (Photo by Erdem Sahin/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)