A woman selling souvenirs walks through Kuta beach in Bali June 5, 2008. Indonesia is expected to report tourist arrivals in December this week. (Photo by Murdani Usman/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)

Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., comforts Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., while taking cover as protesters disrupt the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

A dancer practices prior to her audition to be Rockettes for the “2023 Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes” at Radio City Music Hall in in New York City, U.S., April 20, 2023. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

A grasshopper rests on a photographic camera during a meeting in the village of Alto Jamari called to face the threat of armed land grabbers invading the Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous Reservation near Campo Novo de Rondonia, Brazil on January 30, 2019. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

Roxy, a Red Labradoodle, Jaku, a Black and Tan Lurcher, Kobe, a White German Shepherd, Rocky, a Black and Tan German Shepherd, and Busy, an English Springer Spaniel Cross, queue outside an Aldi store in Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK on Monday, December 1, 2025. (Phoot by Lucy Ray/PA Media Assignments)

Glam revellers have proudly shown off their vaccine passports as they glammed up for a night on the town on the first day of fresh Covid restrictions in Newcastle, United Kingdom on December 15, 2021. Brits donning festive gear decided to tear up nightclub dance floors and booze in pubs despite fears over the Omicron variant. (Photo by Newcastle New Projects)

People sit next to a pool where the Tower of Madrid skyscraper is reflected at sunset in Madrid, Thursday, November 26, 2015. The tower was the tallest in Spain since it was finished in 1957 until 1982. (Photo by Francisco Seco/AP Photo)