Ms. (American) is an abbreviation for Miz, an invention by feminists in the 1970's who felt it was sexist to have only one title for men regardless of their marital status while women's formal titles announced theirs.
This was in reaction to the former state of affairs where titles such as Miss (equivalent to Fraulein/Mademoiselle, indicating a presumably virginal/unmarried woman) or Mrs (Mistress of a house, thereby married and sexually active) were regarded as titles that valued women solely on the basis of their reproductive/sexual functions and denigrated their place as fully participating members of society regardless of gender. It was also a way of broadcasting something about one's private life that men did not have to share. "Mr." doesn't tell you anything about whether a man is sexually active, married, or whatever. It simply conveys gender.
In Europe, at least in German speaking countries, there is no equivalent to Ms. Instead, women elected to eliminate the term Fraulein. All women, thenceforth, would be known simply as Frau (woman) whether married or not. I'm pretty sure it's the same in France and Spain.