It’s easier if you create another div, just to hold your background.
I have tried to insert a background image inside the ion-content but it didn’t work too…
<ion-content>
<div class="background">
... resto do seu código
</div>
<ion-content>
and the css for background
.background{
width: 100%;
min-height: 100%;
background-image: url('url da imagem');
background-size: cover;
}