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)

“Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr, often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm). Eid is an Arabic word meaning “festivity”, while Fiṭr means “breaking (the fast)”. The holiday celebrates the conclusion of the twenty nine or thirty days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan. The first day of Eid, therefore, falls on the first day of the month Shawwal”. – Wikipedia

Masooma Alizada (L) and Frozan Rasooli (R), members of Afghanistan's Women's National Cycling Team prepare a bicycle before training on the outskirts of Kabul February 20, 2015. Afghanistan's Women's National Cycling Team has been breaking new ground for women's sports and pushing the boundaries of what is – and is not – acceptable for young women in the conservative Muslim country. (Photo by Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

In this Friday, August 9, 2019, file photo, Pakistan Rangers soldiers face Indian Border Security Force soldiers at a daily closing ceremony on the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border. India's recent clampdown has a long history in Kashmir and the conflict has existed since the late 1940s, when India and Pakistan won independence from the British empire and began fighting over rival claims to the Muslim-majority territory. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three subsequent wars over Kashmir, and each administers a portion of the region. India has long seen the Kashmiri struggle for self-determination as Islamabad's proxy war against New Delhi. (Photo by Prabhjot Gill/AP Photo/File)

Afghan paraglider Leeda Ozori, 21, walks after practicing in Kabul, Afghanistan September 14, 2015. She is one of a group of young Afghans taking to the skies of a capital where military helicopters and surveillance balloons are a far more familiar sight. Women in Afghanistan's conservative Muslim society are increasingly entering areas such as education, sports and the workplace, but most still wear the head-to-toe garment, the burqa. (Photo by Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

An Acehnese female police officer wear a hijab on duty in the street in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 27 March 2015. Indonesia National Police officially issued a regulation allowing female police officer to wear the Islamic hijab (heads craft) as a part of their uniform. Indonesia is the biggest Muslim population in the world. (Photo by Hotli Simanjuntak/EPA)

Ethnic Uyghur tourists guides wait to perform in a show for Chinese tourists on June 29, 2017 in the old town of Kashgar, in the far western Xinjiang province, China. Kashgar has long been considered the cultural heart of Xinjiang for the province's nearly 10 million Muslim Uyghurs. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

“One artist doesn’t mind if people class her work as rubbish. Thats because all of her pieces are made out of junk found in charity shops, garage sales and in and around her home. Using the likes of buttons, broken jewelry and toy parts, Jane Perkins, from Exeter, UK, has recreated the famous faces of Albert Einstein, Kate Middleton, The Queen, as well as some of the worlds most iconic paintings and photographs”. – Caters News. Photo: Afghan Girl (based on photograph by Steve McCurry/National Geographic). (Photo by Jane Perkins/Caters News)