A Russian police officer detains a teenager during rally protesting retirement age hikes in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, September 9, 2018. A government plan to increase the age for collecting state pensions brought protests across Russia's 11 time zones on Sunday even though the opposition leader who called them was in jail. Nearly 300 people were reported arrested. (Photo by Roman Pimenov/Interpress photo via 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)

Belgium's Crown Princess Elisabeth, center, marches past the Royal tribune with cadets of the military school during the National Day parade in Brussels, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. Belgium celebrates its National Day on Wednesday in a scaled down version due to coronavirus, COVID-19 measures. (Photo by Olivier Matthys/AP Photo)

A resident reacts as a health worker collects a swab sample to test for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Colombo on July 27, 2021. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

People enjoying the second day of the Greenman Festival in South Wales, Crickhowell, United Kingdom on August 20, 2021. (Photo by Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A girl takes a skateboard class from the NGO “CDD Skate Arte”, at a public skate park in the City of God favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, August 5, 2021. (Photo by Bruna Prado/AP Photo)

Spacewalker Mark Vande Hei took his own photograph during the first spacewalk of 2018, on January 23, 2018. These sky-high pictures are better known as “space-selfies”. (Photo by Mark Vande Hei/NASA)

11-year-old Balinese dancer girl Intan puts on makeup before she performs Mergapati Dance at a village event in Banjar Wangaye Kelod, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on November 19, 2017. To preserve traditional dances and culture, Balinese train their children to learn various traditional dances from childhood. (Photo by Mahendra Moonstar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)