"Heimleiterehepaare". Fortdauernde Geschlechter- und Familienbilder in den Räumen der Kinderheime von 1970 bis 1990

Abstract

In the history of residential care for school-age children in Switzerland, the image of the bourgeois family has a long tradition as a point of reference. Until now, little attention has been paid to the impact of social change on family and gender images in residential care. This article examines residential child care in the city of Zurich in the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on its administration and organization. The administration of homes staffed by married couples, “Heimleiterehepaare”, is examined in particular from a spatial sociological and gender-critical perspective. The analysis reveals that the enduring ideal of the bourgeois family, whose gender images decisively shaped the spaces of the children’s residential care homes. However, the everyday practice of the leading couples in the homes themselves could deviate from these ideals.