women were mentioned in the geneologies of the hebrew scriptures....not many, but they were:
1Chronicles 2:1 These were the sons of Israel: Reu′ben, Sim′e·on, Le′vi and Judah, Is′sa·char and Zeb′u·lun, 2*Dan, Joseph and Benjamin, Naph′ta·li, Gad and Ash′er.
3*The sons of Judah were Er and O′nan and She′lah. The three were born to him from Shu′as daughter, the Ca′naan·it·ess. And Er the firstborn of Judah came to be bad in the eyes of Jehovah, so that he put him to death. 4*And Ta′mar his daughter-in-law it was that bore to him Pe′rez and Ze′rah. All the sons of Judah were five.
5*The sons of Pe′rez were Hez′ron and Ha′mul.
6*And the sons of Ze′rah were Zim′ri and E′than and He′man and Cal′col and Da′ra. There were five of them in all.
7*And the sons of Car′mi were A′char the bringer of ostracism upon Israel, who committed an act of unfaithfulness respecting the thing devoted to destruction.
8*And the sons of E′than were Az·a·ri′ah.
9*And the sons of Hez′ron that were born to him were Je·rah′me·el and Ram and Che·lu′bai.
10*As for Ram, he became father to Am·min′a·dab. Am·min′a·dab, in turn, became father to Nah′shon the chieftain of the sons of Judah. 11*Nah′shon, in turn, became father to Sal′ma. Sal′ma, in turn, became father to Bo′az. 12*Bo′az, in turn, became father to O′bed. O′bed, in turn, became father to Jes′se. 13*Jes′se, in turn, became father to his firstborn E·li′ab, and A·bin′a·dab the second, and Shim′e·a the third, 14*Ne·than′el the fourth, Rad′dai the fifth, 15*O′zem the sixth, David the seventh. 16*And their sisters were Ze·ru′iah and Ab′i·gail; and the sons of Ze·ru′iah were A·bish′ai and Jo′ab and As′a·hel, three. 17*As for Ab′i·gail, she gave birth to A·ma′sa; and the father of A·ma′sa was Je′ther the Ish′ma·el·ite.
1Chronicles 2:18*As for Ca′leb the son of Hez′ron, he became father to sons by A·zu′bah his wife and by Jer′i·oth; and these were her sons: Je′sher and Sho′bab and Ar′don. 19*Eventually A·zu′bah died. So Ca′leb took to himself Eph′rath, who in time bore Hur to him.
1Chronicles 2:26*And Je·rah′me·el came to have another wife, whose name was At′a·rah. She was the mother of O′nam. 27*And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Je·rah′me·el came to be Ma′az and Ja′min and E′ker. 28*And the sons of O′nam came to be Sham′mai and Ja′da. And the sons of Sham′mai were Na′dab and A·bi′shur. 29*And the name of A·bi′shurs wife was Ab′i·ha·il, who in time bore him Ah′ban and Mo′lid
women are mentioned in geneologies...so there is nothing unusual about Matthew naming mary in the geneology of Jesus.... Women do actually play a small role in bringing children into the world.