I wouldn't call myself a Catelyn fan, but re-reading ASOIAF and watching HOTD I...appreciate her as a character a lot more.
In many ways, Catelyn's a pretty traditional character and generally accepts and ascribes to traditional gender roles. I would say Cat generally has a bit more power in the North than the average lady, but her and Ned are a pretty classic lord-and-lady relationship. I doubt she's ever even thought about combat training, and her motivations center around her family, specifically her children.
In House of the Dragon, one of the things that bothers me is the idea that Rhaenyra and Alicent (and Rhaenys somewhat) never make decisions or want anything. Say what you will about Catelyn, but she's an active decision-maker in her story even if the decisions are wrong.
After going through her grief over Bran's fall, she almost immediately took it upon herself to go to King's Landing.
She thought quickly and made river lords kidnap Tyrion (again a bad decision but still a decision).
While the northerners are skeptical of her, they still respect her.
She was the one to be at Renly and Stannis' parly.
"Give me Cersei Lannister, Lord Karstark , and you would see how gentle a woman can be," Catelyn replied.
While she was under the influence of grief when she freed Jaime and once again, despite it being a bad decision, it was still hers and there's a difference between being emotional and mad.
Compare that to HOTD where it seems like both Rhaenyra and Alicent don't actually want things or actively choose to do things and more just react. Rhaenyra doesn't want war or her crown Daemon has to convince her of it. Alicent doesn't want Aegon on the throne, she just "misheard" Visery's wishes, and she didn't even know that anyone was trying to usurp Rhaenyra!
I have a lot of issues with GRRM, but it feels like his female POV characters, Arya, Daenerys, Cat, Arianne, Brienne, Cersei, and even Sansa (I would say the POV character in the most passive position) all have agency and active desires in a way HOTD doesn't yet.