Why did society feel it was important to signify whether a woman was married or not?

Well. In this culture, the woman also takes the man’s last name.

So. (I’m just guessing here.)

Let’s say “Miss” Davis, marries “Mr. Smith.”
Then, she becomes (Mr)s. (Smith.) A sign of unification of the two, into one family. Mr. Smith, didn’t join a family, The woman did. She keeps the “s,” so that gender is indicated.

And Mr., and Mrs. Smith, lived happily ever after.
Until they went through a messy divorce, resulting in the suicide of Mr. Smith, and the investigation of Mrs. Smith, into Mr. Smith’s cause of death.

Then. Turns out Mr. Smith wasn’t the one who committed suicide. It was Mr. Smith’s secret twin brother! Who had fathered some of Mrs. Smith’s children!

The real Mr. Smith, was out of town, with his secret twin’s other family (also being played by the Smith twins.) When the real Mr. Smith returns, and hears of his brother’s passing, he also commits suicide.

Mrs. Smith, very confused and devastated by all these revelations, accidentally drinks too much in the bath, and slips beneath the bubbles.

On her tombstone, it will read Mrs. Smith ,with an asterisk, and a very confusing inscription explaining it all…

Simple.

Ownership. In a patriarchal society (especially tribal ones) women were ‘owned’ by their husbands. Using “Mrs” mean that the woman was ‘owned’ by another man. Using ‘Miss’ meant she was not.

Those titles were no doubt encouraged by men as a means of immediately signaling that the woman was their property.

That’s true. I just never really realized how deep it went….I came of age at the beginning of Women’s Lib. No wonder women want to lose the prefixes, and their status remain as neutral as a man’s. SO, in this day and age, WTF is the point of asking for a prefix on some forms,like application forms??

Because it’s about controlling the sexuality and reproductive power of women.

Mrs was short for mistress which did not mean what you may think at the time it was used.

Missus = married. Mistress means girlfriend. Or, like, head of a cat house. Or just the boss.

1.a woman in a position of authority or control.
“she is always mistress of the situation, coolly self-possessed”
a woman who is skilled in a particular subject or activity.
“a mistress of the sound bite, she is famed for the acidity of her tongue”
the female owner of a dog, cat, or other domesticated animal.
British
a female schoolteacher who teaches a particular subject.
“a Geography mistress”
archaic
a female head of a household.
“he asked for the mistress of the house”
(especially formerly) a female employer of domestic staff.

2. a woman having an extramarital sexual relationship, especially with a married man.
“Elsie knew her husband had a mistress tucked away somewhere”
synonyms: lover, girlfriend, kept woman, the other woman; courtesan, paramour;

It’s a man’s world. It was so men would know who was available.

But, it seems to me, they went after married women just as much.

A man is of two minds, and one of those minds doesn’t have a conscience. And I’ll bet not every single one of them “went after married women just as much.”

I would bet it was an extreme minority who did. They just happen to be habitual offenders.