Ask her for names of local Realtors and brokers, and Domich will readily come up with a list of contacts, garnered from her long involvement with various real estate networking groups.

The president of the Women's Council of Realtors, Santa Clara Valley Chapter, Domich credits her visibility in the community and her success in her field with networking.

"Professionally, it's really helped me become more of a business leader in our real estate community," the Campbell resident says. "Personally, it has helped me with growth," with skills such as running meetings and coordinating events.

Like Domich, more and more career women are finding networking to be essential in making their businesses succeed.

"Networking is key to the success of my business, because I need to meet a lot of people," says Glynis Wineinger, an investment representative with Edward Jones and incoming president of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce. "Overall, people like interacting with others and like referring business to someone they know."

Wineinger says, however, that networking is especially important because of the gender situation in the workforce. She says she is seeing a slight trend of females going back into business—after breaks in employment for childcare or elder care—as a result of their husbands being laid off.

Los Gatos Redevelopment Agency Manager Marty Woodworth says that in a "small-business community" such as Los Gatos, about half of the shops are owned by either women or husband-and-wife teams. "A lot of women are running the business," Woodworth says, "particularly the spas and the personal retail."

Similarly, the city of Campbell has seen more women becoming involved in leadership and management in the past decade, says Betty Deal, executive director of the Campbell Chamber of Commerce. "A lot of businesses are seeing that it's advantageous to have a female in the business. And a lot of women are saying, 'Boy, I don't need a man to do this job.' "

Deal says, however, that both genders are finding it helpful to be members of local Chambers of Commerce. "It's probably one of the less expensive ways to promote your club, organization, business," Deal says. Not only do the members get a free listing on the Chamber of Commerce's website, but they are exposed to local government issues that affect them through Chamber communications and meet peers at Chamber events.

"The Chamber helps you with referrals that you possibly couldn't get in other ways," Deal says. "People want to find something, they come to the Chamber."

A September 2003 report from the National Women's Business Council on women entrepreneurship in the 21st century cited contacts as essential in the start-up process.

"Friends and associates, the [U.S. Small Business Administration] and private banks were considered to be the most helpful sources of information about business-financing options," the report stated in regard to access to capital.

From data gathered at national and regional summits, the report also found that "personal networks and mentoring were named as the key factors to helping women start and grow businesses."

Similarly, 2001's Diana Project "Women Business Owners and Equity Capital: The Myths Dispelled" studied the myth that "women aren't in the network and lack the social contacts to build a credible venture."

"Our research showed that women seeking equity reported a wide range and extensive use of formal and informal networks," the study stated, naming business associates, attorneys and other business owners as top advisers.

The Diana Project made several recommendations "to encourage and facilitate equity investment in all entrepreneurial ventures," including funding and sponsoring programs and events that would better prepare women to lead businesses.

The Cupertino and Sunnyvale Chambers of Commerce are two such organizations actively working to keep their members engaged: For the past 13 years, the two organizations have partnered with the Chambers in Palo Alto, Los Altos and Mountain View to hold an annual regional Women in Business luncheon, held this year on Nov. 12.

In recent years networking groups for women have sprouted up with frequency. Derinda Gaumond is CEO of workit.com, which she founded in 1999, and its 2000 offshoot, women.workit.com. "What we do is we bring together hundreds of organizations," Gaumond says of the websites that serve as a database for local science- and technology-based networking groups, events and jobs.

Willow Glen resident Kristy Rogers co-founded the Campbell-based Women in Networking in 1996, and also manages the local branch of eWomenNetwork. "I'm constantly seeking out women-owned businesses, asking for referrals," Rogers says, "asking for other women who want to connect with other success-minded women."

Rogers networks regularly, visiting other organizations and promoting "the need and the understanding that networking needs to be part of a business strategy," she says. According to Rogers, women are marketed to so much in society that they need a referral system to help them make decisions.

Rogers, herself a business owner, adds, "It's just completely how I've built my business, actually, networking."

Many of the women-geared networking organizations are relatively new to the scene, but the local chapter of the Women's Council of Realtors has been around for 52 years.

"Originally, why they established the Women's Council of Realtors is because at the time, women were not allowed in the National Association of Realtors," Domich says. Times have changed, however—the Women's Council now allows membership of both men and women, and has kept its name because of its heritage.

While for some networking is effortless and natural, for others it must be learned. Gaumond has taught networking courses at San José State University and in corporate settings, coaching both men and women in networking skills.

"Some people are afraid they're going to say the wrong thing," Gaumond says. "But anyone can learn how to network effectively. It's just a matter of showing them the structure." That structure includes follow-up methods and the social nuances of networking.

Gaumond says she has found social differences between women's networking groups and those that either allow both genders or are focused on men. "I think men are a little more likely to ask for things, where women want things to be nice when they ask," she says. And women's networking groups tend to have a different style, she adds. "There's a safety and an understanding there. It's also more fun."

San José State University professor of management Joyce Osland ties gender lessons into both her classes at the school and her leadership seminars for women.

"I make sure that the male understands things so that they are helpful to the women, not prejudiced," Osland says. She works to dispel social perceptions of the genders in the workplace, such as "men are assertive and women are bitchy."

"I just try to make sure that the men know what's hard for women in business," Osland says.

Wineinger says, however, she has faced no incidents of business associates not wanting to work with her because of her gender.

"We work just as hard as any other business owner, trying to survive and juggle everything at the same time," Wineinger says. "If you're energetic and really love what you do, people don't see whether you're a man or a woman."