A transgender woman waits backstage to perform during an event to raise funds for their community in Mumbai, India, September 20, 2018. (Photo by Francis Mascarenhas/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)

Christmas party goers seen on December 14, 2018 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Revellers hit the bars as they partied hard on the second-to-last Friday before Christmas. (Photo by Mercury Press)

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)

In this photo taken on Sunday, January 14, 2018, Anastasia Gruzdeva, left, poses for selfie with her friends as the temperature dropped to about –50 degrees (–58 degrees Fahrenheit) in Yakutsk, Russia. Temperatures in the remote, diamond-rich Russian region of Yakutia have dropped to near-record lows, plunging to –67 degrees Centigrade (-88.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas. (Photo by Sakhalife.ru Photo via AP Photo)

Model Heidi Klum in front of Concorde jet after arriving for Victoria's Secret fashion show at Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2000. (Photo by Marion Curtis/DMI/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

A grizzly bear waves its paw at a vehicle on the road to Nemrut Crater Lake in Tatvan district of Bitlis, Turkiye on August 24, 2023. (Photo by Muhammed Selim Korkutata/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)