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)

The players of Denmark huddle prior to the FIFA Women's World Cup qualifier match between Denmark and Sweden at Viborg Stadion on September 4, 2018 in Viborg, Denmark. (Photo by Lars Ronbog/FrontZoneSport via Getty Images)

Vegetables, wood and charcoal are loaded onto the roof of a battered Peugeot on November 7, 2018 in Matadi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. From the port of Matadi to the capital Kinshasa, a 350 km road crosses the south-west of the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Photo by Junior D. Kannah/AFP Photo)

Indian Students of Rabindra Bharati University at the BT Road Campuses Celebrates the Holi, Color Festival on March 09, 2017 in Kolkata.Holi, the popular Hindu spring festival of colours is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month, and will be celebrated on March 13 this year. (Photo by Debajyoti Chakraborty/NurPhoto)

Couples take part in a competition during a mass wedding of 64 doctoral student couples at Harbin Institute of Technology, a university in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China, June 4, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A woman poses as she beside David Hammons painting on an America flag “Injustice case” at the exhibition Soul Of A Nation, exploring the art made by African American artists between 1963 and 1983, in London, Tuesday, July 11, 2017. The exhibition starts on July 12, 2017 nd ends on Oct.22, 2017. (Photo by Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

Demonstrators march in Port-au-Prince on February 14, 2021, to protest against the government of President Jovenel Moise. Several thousand people demonstrated Sunday in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, saying the government was trying to establish a new dictatorship and denouncing international support for President Jovenel Moise. The protests were mostly peaceful, although a few clashes broke out between some demonstrators and police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets. (Photo by Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP Photo)

A Soyuz rocket booster carrying the Progress MS-17 cargo freighter blasts off the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kyzylorda Region, Kazakhstan on June 30, 2021. (Photo by Roscosmos Press Office/TASS)