Angela Padilla, vice president, deputy general counsel at Uber Technologies Inc., has helped the company navigate cases involving claims that drivers should be classified as employees while overseeing Uber's responses to government investigations on regulatory compliance, and the trade secrets case brought by autonomous car rival Waymo.

After the events that have rocked Silicon Valley this year, are you more or less hopeful about the prospects for women in the tech industry?

Very hopeful. The Band-Aid has been ripped off of a deep, infected wound. We have a real change to improve now.