Group leader Jane Waithageni Kimaru, 60 years old, shows women how to fight off a potential rapist and escape, during a Taekwondo self-defense class for women in the Korogocho slum of Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, September 16, 2021. (Photo by Brian Inganga/AP Photo)

Elementary school sumo wrestler Kyuta Kumagai competes in a sumo ring at a regional tournament of Junior Olympic Cup All-Japan Elementary School Sumo Championship in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo, Japan, October 17, 2021. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

A cheerleaders team member wearing a pseudo anti-coronavirus face mask performs during the St. Petersburg Open ATP tennis tournament match in St.Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, October 27, 2021. (Photo by Dmitry Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Children dance during the International Tournament of Joropo in Villavicencio, Colombia, Saturday, November 13, 2021. Joropo is the traditional music and dance of the Eastern Plains of Colombia and Venezuela. (Photo by Fernando Vergara/AP Photo)

A motor taxi driver gets his hands washed at an Ebola screening station on the road between Butembo and Goma on July 16, 2019 in Goma. The first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the eastern DR Congo city of Goma has died, the governor of North Kivu province said on July 16, 2019. The case – the first in a major urban hub in the region's nearly year-old epidemic of the disease – has sparked deep concern in neighbouring Rwanda and at the UN. (Photo by John Wessels/AFP Photo)

North Koreans perform during a mass game of “The Land of the People” at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday, June 25, 2019. (Photo by Jon Chol Jin/AP Photo)

Fish are thrown onto a truck during a winter fishing festival held on the frozen Wulungu Lake in Fuhai county, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, January 18, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

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)