Madame from Armentières??

I'm obviously behind the times, because apparently "fräulein" as a form of address for an unmarried woman in German has now more or less gone out of use, and it seems that "mademoiselle" in French may be going the same way.  As a mere man I don't quite understand this, although the thrust of most of the comments (from women) I have read are along the lines of "my marital status is nobody's business but mine".  Typically in English we seem to have gone for a compromise solution by introducing the new neutral title "Ms" for those who do not wish to declare themselves as "Miss" or "Mrs".  At least it solves the problem of how you address a reply to someone who has signed a letter simply "Jane Smith" or whatever.  Mrs and Miss by the way are both diminutives of the same word - mistress.