A reveler in costume laughs during the “Cordao do Boitata” street party in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, February 24, 2019, one of the many parades before the official start of Carnival on March 1. (Photo by Leo Correa/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)

A woman arrives to cast her vote at a polling station as police officers stand guard during the general election, in Peshawar, Pakistan on February 8, 2024. (Photo by Fayaz Aziz/Reuters)

Retired Malam Jabba engineer Akbar Ali skis down the piste at the ski resort in Malam Jabba, Pakistan February 7, 2017. Atop the piste of Malam Jabba in Pakistan's once dangerous Swat Valley skiers schuss downhill, a new Chinese-built chairlift ferries tourists to the peak, and a luxury hotel is under construction to replace one torched by the Taliban. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)

A Philippine boy collects used plastic bottles to be sold at a junk shop at Divisoria market in Manila on November 29, 2017. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)

Marry Ousmane, 18, poses outside while wearing her prom dress on May 29, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough in New York City. Marry Ousmane is best friends with Patrice Toussaint and both are seniors at Edward Murrow high school in Brooklyn whose senior prom was canceled due to all schools being closed during the coronavirus pandemic. Toussaint said, “I've been planning for four years. I was going to have a send off party with a barbecue and a red carpet. I was going to have two dresses and wear a crown”. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

This image released by Neon shows Matthew McConaughey in a scene from “The Beach Bum”. (Photo by Atsushi Nishijima/Neon via AP Photo)

In this December 23, 2013 photo, Indian army soldiers patrol near one of their forward post at the Line of Control (LOC), that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, at Krishna Ghati (KG Sector) in Poonch, 290 kilometers (180 miles) from Jammu, India. The military commanders of longtime rivals India and Pakistan met on Tuesday in a bid to stop frequent cross-border attacks in disputed Kashmir which escalated tensions in the region in recent months. (Photo by Channi Anand/AP Photo)