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)

In this photo taken June 3, 2009, a female North Korean soldier looks out from behind a barbed-wire fence around a camp on the North Korean river banks across from Hekou, northeastern China's Liaoning province. North Korea's top court has convicted two U.S. journalists, and sentenced them to 12 years in labor prison, the country's state news agency reported Monday. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

A boy with his bike is seen as rainbow appears after a rainfall in Edremit district of Van province in Turkey on July 08, 2020. (Photo by Ozkan Bilgin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A woman wearing a mask walks past an antique store in Hong Kong, Friday, March 25, 2022. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

A fisherwoman repairs the fishing nets at a fishing port during the annual summer fishing ban, which covers the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the waters north of 12 degrees north latitude in the South China Sea, on June 8, 2022 in Wenling, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province of China. (Photo by Liu Zhenqing/VCG via Getty Images)

In this handout image provided by Parks Australia, thousands of red crabs are seen walking in a drain on November 23, 2021 in Christmas Island. The annual migration of red crabs begins with first rains of the wet season on Christmas Island, usually around October or November. Millions of the red crabs make their way across the island to the ocean to mate and spawn. (Photo by Parks Australia via Getty Images)

Jackie Galarza greets the Camarasaurus dinosaur held by Houston Ferguson during the “Jurassic Quest” experience at Broward County Convention Center on July 08, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Fans of dinosaurs can walk through moving and roaring animatronic replicas of the now extinct creatures during the three-day event. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A Togolese policeman, disguised as a terrorist, brandishes his weapon on October 20, 2022 during an anti-terrorism exercise at the Peacekeeping Operations Training Center (CEOMP). Togo's military on Thursday carried out a simulated jihadist attack in the capital Lome on Thursday, practising countering an assault and hostage-taking at a restaurant. Togo and neighbouring West African coastal states like Ghana and Benin are preparing for growing spillover from jihadist conflicts across their northern borders in Niger and Burkina Faso. (Photo by Yanick Folly/AFP Photo)