Car headlights illuminate a woman walking through city streets as snow accumulates on December 16, 2020 in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Winter Storm Gail is expected to bring more than a foot of snow in parts of the Northeast. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)

South Sudanese traditional dancers prepare to welcome Pope Francis during his visit in Juba, South Sudan on February 3, 2023. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

Six new Canadians take their oath of citizenship while harnessed on the CN Tower's “Edgewalk” 356 metres (1,168 feet) above Toronto, Ontario, Canada in a still image from video October 9, 2018. (Photo by CN Tower/Handout via Reuters)

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)

Sellers prepare the camel for “huge camel market” where hundreds of camels are sold in Nauakchott, the capital of Mauritania on May 16, 2023. Camels, being the main source of livelihood in Arab countries, are used for transportation and nutrition. (Photo by Annika Hammerschlag/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Dancers perform during a rehearsal for the “2023 Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes” at St. Paul the Apostle Church on Thursday, October 19, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Andres Kudacki/AP Photo)

Shooting star by Tony Wu, US/Japan. Winner, underwater. The electrifying reproductive dance of a giant sea star. As the surrounding water filled with sperm and eggs from spawning sea stars, Wu faced several challenges. Stuck in a small, enclosed bay with only a macro lens for photographing small subjects, he backed up to squeeze the undulating sea star into his field of view. The dancing posture of spawning sea stars rising and swaying may help release eggs and sperm, or may help sweep the eggs and sperm into the currents where they fertilise together in the water. Kinko Bay, Japan. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Afghan children watch the Kabul view as they stand near to a victim's grave who lost her life in the recent attack on Sayyid al-Shuhada school in west Kabul, Afghanistan, 11 May 2021. Following a terrorist attack on a girls school in Kabul on 08 May that killed some 80 person and injured more than 100, the Afghan government declared 11 May as a national mourning day. (Photo by Hedayatullah Amid/EPA/EFE)