Whirls, I was not trying to make any kind of point. I am fascinated by the subtleties of languages and, as a foreigner, saw an opportunity for learning a bit of English. Which you have duly filled, to my everlasting gratitude.
@Genghis: sorry, I can never live with "madam chairman", but could happily stomach "lady chairwoman". What need to complicate? As for "Sister Peter", that could get one in hospital FAST, round here. Or even in prison. Had some really bad stories over here, recently.
On a complete sidenote: local courtesy has always had us calling lawyers "Meester", obviously related to "Master" and "Mister". When women came into the legal profession, and today they are very prominent in it here, some insisted to be adressed as "Meester" too, but I could never get myself round to it. Unfortunately, the proper female form "Meesteres" ("Mistress", more or less) would have an unmistakeable and very unfortunate sexual connotation, so it is regrettably out of the way. My answer is that in the 21th century they can simply be called "Sir" and "Lady", in Dutch "Meneer" and "Mevrouw".
The times have indeed been changing.