I believe that there is a stronger female presence in FF8.
Just take a look at the specifics

1) Main characters:

ff7: 6 Men, 3 women
ff8: 3 men, 3 women
ff9: 4 Men, 2 women, 1 it
ff10: 4 men, 3 women

The main characters of the game are Very Important. And ff8 is the only game in which there is equality in the number of men and women. Numbers are relevant.

And i mentioned this before but nobody apparently seem to think it as important as I do:
2) The Main Villains
ff7: Shinra, Sephiroth, Jenova
ff8: Ultimecia, Adel, Edea
ff9: Kuja, Garland, Necron
ff10: Seymore, Sin/Jecht, Yevon

The non-specifics - random stuff to think about. From a social perspective.

Equality of the sexes??? I don't know
1) Quitis,a female, is incharge of training the seeds --whereas Soldier is run by Men and full of men. There are women in Seed but not in Soldier.
2) Edea + Cid formed ran the orphange and formed seed together....
3) Rinoa is an integral part of the forest owls...whereas Tifa (who can kick rinoa's ass any day of the week but i had to write it)....stays at the bar and takes care of Marlene.
4) Ellone is the one who possess the power to make people time travel via dreaming
5) The airship is flown by Selphie and not by a cid.
6) Selphie is the only one who gets to head a mission unlike the mission that was giving to Cid
7) The minor villains: Raijin and Fujin are on an equal level...whereas Elena is just some recruit in the Turks.

However FF7 also have strong female roles: 1)Tifa can kick ass, 3) Aeris is an ancient who sacrifices herself, 4)Scarlet 5) Jenova!!6) Elena, a recruit but still a turk

And there are many reason to scoff at some of the women in FF8....rinoa and that whole 'save me save me' squall routine....

Blah .....All that typing just so i can say :it's really a matter of opinion....depending on how you define powerful and important.